![](/templates/proglobalmedia-main/images/globe-blue-whitebg.gif)
Displaying items by tag: Brazil
Argos gets green light to access more cash
08 October 2014Colombia: Directors at Cementos Argos have given the green light for an ordinary bond issuance of up to US$495m to be used as working capital and to swap financial liabilities. The company will have three years to carry out the issuance, although it will most likely do so in the coming months.
Previous issuances by Cementos Argos, such as those carried out in 2012 to raise US$495m, have helped the firm expand in Colombia, Latin America and the United States. Argos revealed in August 2014 that it is considering buying Holcim and Lafarge assets in the region, particularly Mexico and Brazil, and has announced that it will also build a US$450m plant.
Ireland: Ireland-based building materials group CRH will sell its clay brickwork division for up to Euro760m in order to bid for cement assets that are to be sold as part of the LafargeHolcim mega-merger. London-based sources have said that the Dublin-based company had hired bankers from JP Morgan to find a buyer for the division.
CRH is believed to be interested in all of the assets Lafarge and Holcim have up for sale, including subsidiaries in Canada and Brazil. LafargeTarmac, the largest cement maker in the neighbouring UK, is also up for sale as part of the LafargeHolcim divestment package. There are Euro5bn of assets for sale in total.
The disposal could be one of the first big changes by CRH's new chief executive, Albert Manifold. He was promoted in January 2014 after the retirement of Myles Lee, who had spent 32 years at the company. Several private equity firms are thought to be interested in the clay brick division. Bankers said that it was likely to fetch Euro630-760m.
Votorantim interested in Lafarge Tarmac
02 October 2014Brazil/UK: Lafarge Tarmac, the UK's largest cement firm, may be bought by the Latin American conglomerate Votorantim. The mooted deal comes as giant cement firms Lafarge of France and Holcim of Switzerland sell off assets as they pursue their merger, announced in April 2014.
Cementos Argos assesses US$1bn of LafargeHolcim assets
01 October 2014Colombia/Brazil: Colombia's Cementos Argos, part of Grupo Argos, is reportedly assessing assets worth US$1bn that Lafarge and Holcim will be forced to sell in Brazil as part of their planned merger.
Argos, which is working closely with Banco Itau BBA in terms of potential Lafarge-Holcim acquisition deals in Brazil, aims to grow organically and via acquisitions across the Americas. The firm wants to have a presence in markets where there is potential for cement consumption per capita to grow. Cementos Argos already operates nine cement plants in Colombia, three in the United States and one in Honduras.
Apodi to invest in new Sergipe plant
28 August 2014Brazil: Apodi, owned by entrepreneurs Ivens Dias Branco (68%) and Juscelino Sarkis (32%), is to invest US$444m to set up a cement plant in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. It reportedly anticipates that the move will reinforce its stronghold in the north east of the country.
The new unit will have capacity for 5000t/day, adding to Apodi's two plants in Pecem and Quixada, Ceara state and expanding the company capacity to 10,000t/day in total.
Votorantim and Molins join forces in new firm Yacuces
06 August 2014South America: Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim has teamed up with Spanish company Cementos Molins to expand their cement businesses in Latin America through newly formed cement company Yacuces.
Votorantim will have a 51% stake in the joint venture. The agreement involves the purchase of 66.7% of Bolivian cement company Itacamba for US$18.6m by Yacuces.
According to a statement filed with Spain's capital markets regulating commission CNVM, Itacamba has plans to invest around US$220m in the next two years to build a cement factory. Votorantim and Molins already have business partnerships in Argentina and Uruguay through cement companies Cementos Avellaneda and Cementos Artigas.
Lafarge and Holcim announce Brazilian divestment details
05 August 2014Brazil: Lafarge and Holcim have announced further details on their proposal for comprehensive divestments in Brazil as part of their planned mega-merger to create LafargeHolcim.
As announced on 7 July 2014, and to anticipate potential competition authorities' requirements, the joint Divestment Committee has agreed to propose to Brazilian competition authority CADE a package of high-quality assets from both Holcim and Lafarge. This will include three integrated cement plants and two grinding stations that share a combined capacity of 3.6Mt/yr. Also included is one ready-mix concrete plant in the south east of the country.
These proposed divestments have been presented to CADE in the context of pre-filing negotiations and will now be subject to review and further discussion until a final decision is reached with the authority.
The divestment process will be carried out in the framework of the relevant social processes and on-going dialogue with the employee representatives' bodies and will be conducted in parallel to discussions with the competition authorities and potential buyers. The divestment process will be completed subject to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.
A Lafarge and Holcim joint statement said that Brazil is an important market for the future LafargeHolcim Group and that the company will remain committed to the country, serving customers from a network in cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete.
Brazil becomes the fourth-largest global consumer of cement
04 August 2014Brazil: According to Datamark, the Brazilian cement industry has doubled in size, moving from 10th place to 4th place in terms of global consumption. Currently, Brazil's cement consumption is only behind the US, India and China. It is expected that Brazil's cement consumption will reach 75Mt/yr by 2016 and 85Mt/yr by 2020.
Brazil: The leaders of the rapidly growing BRIC economy countries, which include Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa, will launch their own development bank at a summit in Brazil in 14-18 July 2014. The BRIC nations are also working on proposals to set up a 'mini International Monetary Fund (IMF),' according to the Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov.
The plan for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to set up a bank to finance infrastructure projects began in 2012 and the group agreed on the project's outline in 2013 after seeing investors divert money from emerging economies, hurting their currencies. Disagreements over funding, management and where to locate the headquarters of the new entity held up progress, but Siluanov said that the leaders themselves would decide whether it should be based in Shanghai or Delhi when they meet in Fortaleza, Brazil in 14-18 July 2014.
The New Development Bank will be able to start lending in 2016. It will focus chiefly on infrastructure projects and will be available to other members of the United Nations. The five nations will put up an initial US$2bn each in financing with a further US$40bn in guarantees. The financing will eventually build up to US$100bn. Siluanov added that the five leaders would also sign a blueprint agreement on the group's other signature project, a US$100bn fund to steady the currency markets.
"We have reached an agreement that, in the current conditions of capital volatility, it is important for our countries to have this buffer in addition to the IMF," said Siluanov. The mini IMF would act as an emergency fund for members facing currency devaluation or which were hit by sudden currency flight. China will contribute US$41bn, while Brazil, India and Russia will each give US$18bn and South Africa US$5bn.
Brazil: The Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) of the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade has approved anti-dumping measures against six countries: China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Mexico and the US. The Camex has also added a 4% levy to cement imports.
Dumping is the commercial practice whereby a country exports products at lower prices than those charged domestically in order to cause problems to its competitors. Whenever the practice is confirmed via a probe, imports of the products at hand from the dumping country can be overtaxed. The right to apply anti-dumping duties may be granted permanently or temporarily. Provisional authorisations occur whenever probes uncover signs of dumping. They are valid for up to six months and may be converted into permanent authorisations. The latter occur following more thorough probes and are generally valid for up to five years.
The Camex approved the inclusion of six products on the Exception List to the Mercosur Common External Tariff (Letec). When a product is added, its import tax rate can be raised or lowered in relation to the rate applied by the Latin American block's countries. The rate for cement, which was formerly exempt, will now have a 4% rate levied.