Hurtado Vicuña looking for merger support

Chilean holding Grupo Hurtado Vicuña will seek support from small shareholders for a merger of its Cementos Bicentenario (BSA) with Cementos Polpaico.

The merger is expected to create Chile’s largest cement company, overtaking Cemento Melon and Cementos Bío Bío.

The group’s share in Cementos Polpaico currently stands at 57.1 per cent. Volcan and Megeve could complicate the merger, according to Esmerk. To enable the merger to go ahead Hurtado Vicuña has also had to agree to sell some BSA assets and is looking at selling seven of the firm’s 26 concrete plants, representing an estimated value of US$70m-90m.