HeidelbergCement has increased its participation in the logistics company Kerpen & Kerpen GmbH & Co KG from 30 per cent to 100 per cent, the German cement major said in a statement yesterday.

The purchase price of around EUR23.5m was paid in the form of 416,477 new HeidelbergCement shares, which were issued as part of a capital increase in return for contributions in kind.

Kerpen & Kerpen will be fully integrated into HeidelbergCement's business in Germany, constituting the core of the transport logistics that will be centrally organised in the future.

In 1999, HeidelbergCement acquired the initial 30 per cent stake in Kerpen & Kerpen and entered into a management contract in 2003, whose minimum term expired at the end of 2013. The takeover of the remaining stake in exchange for new HeidelbergCement shares is based on option rights, which were granted at that time.