HeidelbergCement completes sale of US assets to Cementos Argos

HeidelbergCement has completed the US$660m sale of the Martinsburg cement plant and eight terminals to Cementos Argos.

HeidelbergCement had been required to sell the West Virginia plant to comply with regulators following the acquisition of Italcementi. It is expected that the company will use the proceeds of the sale to pay down some of debt it took on to finance the acquisition process.

“With the disposal of the US assets we fulfil the obligation of the FTC and improve the net financial position of HeidelbergCement after the acquisition of Italcementi,” said Dr Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “Thereby we have fulfilled all the obligations in the context of the Italcementi acquisition.”

The Martinsburg plant has a clinker and cement capacity of 1.8Mta and has been extensively modernised since its purchase by Italcementi subsidiary Essroc in 2002.