Buzzi Unicem is offering EUR120m for a 99.5 per cent stake in SACCI and the simultaneous relief of all outstanding liabilities from a previous debt restructuring agreement. The proposal is seen as a further step in the consolidation of the fragmented Italian cement industry, where Buzzi Unicem is the second largest producer behind Italcementi.
SACCI presently operates four cement plants, representing a current combined cement capacity of some 2Mta and 31 ready-mixed concrete batching plants. It is active in the central and northern parts of Italy and bought Lafarge’s two Italian cement plants in 2008 and has since closed several operations.
SACCI also holds important minority stakes in two other cement producers. It has a 35 per cent interest in Cementerie Aldo Barbetti and a 40 per cent stake in Cementeria di Costantinopoli, which operates an integrated works at Barile in south central Italy. The family-controlled Cementerie Aldo Barbetti and has two integrated works in central Italy: a 1Mta plant in Umbria and a 0.3Mta plant at the Adriatic port of Ravenna. The company had a 3.4 per cent share of the Italian cement production in 2013. Barbetti also has a 4.65Mta joint venture in Turkey with Sanko group, which trades as Çimco Cement, though the two plants are legally owned by Sanko.
Buzzi Unicem will be announcing its full 2014 results on 27 March.
