Cemex SAB de CV said on Friday that it is looking to sell the 23 per cent stake it directly owns in Mexican cement producer Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SAB de CV through a secondary public offering.

In its filing, Cemex disclosed that it had asked CNBV, Mexico's banking and securities regulator, to approve the planned transaction, under which the Mexican building materials company will offer the shares to domestic and foreign investors in a concurrent private placement.

The sale would be part of Cemex's previously announced asset disposal plan. The company had vowed to sell as much as US$2bn (EUR1.8bn) worth of assets in efforts to cut its debt pile by between US$3bn and US$3.5bn over the next two years.