Georgia: HeidelbergCement has sold 50% of the voting rights in its Georgian business to Cement Invest, an investment company jointly managed and owned by the Georgian Co-Investment Fund (GCF) and Hunnewell Partners. HeidelbergCement and Cement Invest will jointly control the resulting joint venture. The transaction will contribute in total about Euro115m to cutting HeidelbergCement’s net debt.

“The joint venture’s competitiveness will be improved with the modernisation of the Kaspi cement plant, where the construction of a modern dry kiln line already started in 2016 and is expected to be finalised by the end of 2018. The disposal is part of our portfolio review and optimisation with the goal to generate additional cash flow in order to support our disciplined growth and increase shareholder returns,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement.

HeidelbergCement started operating in Georgia in 2006. The new joint venture operates three integrated cement plants, a cement grinding facility and a cement terminal on the Black Sea coast. The cement production capacity exceeds 2Mt/yr. A network of 13 ready-mixed concrete plants and two aggregate quarries supports the cement business.