Bolivian cement producer Fancesa is seeking to acquire the Warnes operation of the country’s leading cement producer Soboce, local paper El Deber reported. The Warnes transaction was proposed by Soboce, one of Fancesa’s three shareholders, and follows the collapse of a possible merger between the two cement producers earlier this year. Fancesa has been developing its own expansion plans following the breakdown of the merger but it will have to wait until March 2005 when municipal elections are out of the way before it can move forward with the acquisition, according to the report. Earlier this year, Fancesa shareholders, the Sucre local government and the University of San Francisco Xavier rejected a merger proposal from Soboce and vowed to strengthen the company and expand the business. The merger of Soboce and Fancesa would create a company with combined assets of US$180mn and a 75% share of Bolivia’s cement market.
