Votorantim to use stake sale to invest in cement, mining division

Proceeds from the sale of Votorantim’s stake in steelmaker Usiminas will be used to fund expansion in its cement and mining divisions, Chief Executive Faul Calfat has said.

Calfat told Valor Economico newspaper that the BRL2.4bn (US$1.34bn) recieved for Votorantim Industrial’s 13.5 per cent voting stake in Usiminas had boosted the group’s cash holding to BRL11.5bn.

The group’s cement unit is to receive one-third of the proceeds, Calfat told Valor, adding that the money would go to the construction of four factories by 2013.

The group's cement unit, Brazil's largest producer of the building material, would get one-third of the Usiminas stake sale proceeds, Calfat told Valor, adding that the money would go to the construction of four factories by 2013.

Since 2007 Votorantim has been commissioning new cement plants in its domestic market of Brazil and revamping old ones. It has 25 cement plants in operation in Brazil with 27Mta cement capacity. By 2013 we will end up with 35 cement plants with 42Mta of capacity. The company is building plants close to the most important, most rapidly growing regions in Brazil, particularly in the east, the south and northeast. It is also constructing plants in the centre and mid-west of Brazil.