USA: Elementia intends to buy 55% of Giant Cement

Elementia of Mexico, 49 per cent owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, said it had signed a letter of intent to purchase 55 per cent of Giant Cement Holdings Inc, a wholly-owned unit of Cementos Portland Valderrivas of Spain.

Currently, Giant has an accumulated debt of approximately EUR437m in a securitised bond issue, says dirigentesdigital. At the same time, Cementos Portland has signed a loan of EUR553m to repay part of its debt, amounting to EUR1114m according to the Spanish source. Cementos Portland is 79 per cent owned by FCC, which also part of Carlos Slim's investment portfolio.

"The Giant acquisition will grant Elementia access to the third biggest cement market in the world," the company said.

Giant is the fourth-largest cement producer in the US, a market that accounts for 35 per cent of total revenues of Cementos Portland. Giant Cement has three plants on the US East Coast, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Maine, plus three limestone quarries and six terminals with a total cement capacity of 3Mta.