Italcementi SpA unit Ciments Francais has declared its interest in acquiring several factories in Turkey formerly operated by local diversified group Uzan, and which were placed under state control after revelations of an accounting scandal. ’We have expressed our interest in a certain number of these factories,’ Ciments Francais CEO Yves-Rene Nanot said at a press conference. He added that the seized plants were put up for sale by the Turkish government in July. The Uzan group has been active in telephony, publishing and energy as well as cement. It was placed under the supervision of the state after fraud was uncovered at one of the group’s banks. Ciments Francais said it expects its business in Turkey to develop ’favourably’, particularly now that the ’disruptive’ influence of Uzan has been removed. The company also indicated that it will continue to pursue its strategy of concentrating on developing markets.
A full report on the Uzan factories will be given at the forthcoming Cemtech conference at the Swissotel, Istanbul 26-29th September. See: www.Cemtech.org for further details.
