Global Cement News

Carmeuse announced this week that it has acquired a controlling stake in Chile-based Cbb. It said that the transaction strengthened its presence in South America, building on its existing operations in Colombia and Brazil. The move marks a diversification for the Belgium-based lime company. Cbb, formerly Cementos Bío Bío, is a vertically integrated heavy building materials producer with cement and concrete plants, in addition to limestone mines and plants.

The transaction sees Carmeuse take over a 97% share of Cbb for around US$490m. The deal was made public in early August 2025. A public tender offer, as part of the acquisition process, then completed on 11 September 2025. The settlement date, when the share ownership changes and the payment is made, will take place on 23 September 2025. The takeover was able to proceed once the main family-based shareholders of Cbb, who owned around 65%, agreed to the deal. Peru-based cement company Yura, which owned around another 20%, also consented. It sold its share for around US$100m.

The takeover of Cbb has been a while in the making and has involved different parties. It first became apparent to the public in late 2024 that Peru-based Grupo Gloria, the owner of Yura, had launched a bid to buy an additional 20% share. The board of Cbb rejected the offer, which appraised the full company at just under US$400m, as undervalued. Around the same time, Cbb revealed that US-based Mississippi Lime Company (MLC) had made its own takeover bid in May 2024 for around US$500m. However, MLC then withdrew its offer. Both Yura and MLC reportedly made their approaches in conjunction with some of the local family-based major shareholders. Also, note the interest by another lime company in Cbb.

Jump forward nine months and the deal appears done. Yet, as mentioned above, Carmeuse is buying more than just a lime producer. Cbb operates three integrated cement plants and one grinding plant in Chile. It also runs a grinding plant at Matarani, in the south of Peru. Global Cement Directory data suggests that the plants in Chile have a cement production capacity of over 3Mt/yr. This places the clinker capacity cost at around US$160/t. However, the capacity utilisation rate is likely to be low at present given that the company reported cement despatches of 1.2Mt in 2024. In addition, Cbb runs 27 ready-mixed concrete plants, two lime plants and three limestone mines in Chile. In Argentina it operates a lime plant and a lime mine. The company reported lime despatches of 0.83Mt in 2024.

Cbb recorded sales revenue of US$204m for cement and US$174m for lime. Pertinently, it noted a profit of US$2.26m for the cement division but one of US$35m for the lime one. Although, to be fair, sales revenue and profit grew year-on-year for both divisions. For the cement sector, the company said that the industry had experienced one of the “most severe crises in 2024 in the last 30 years.” It reported a decline in new construction projects due to rising material costs, higher credit requirements, low business confidence and a poor general economy. Ratings agency Humphreys noted, in a report on the cement sector in Chile in December 2024, that Cbb had improved its earnings margin in recent years due to the performance of its lime division.

Carmeuse’s acquisition of Cbb is a major change for the cement sector in Chile following declining cement despatches since 2021. From here one question is whether Carmeuse wants to run a cement and concrete business in Chile. The current state of the cement market in Chile, Carmeuse’s expertise in lime and the profitability of Cbb’s lime division, are three reasons why it might decide to divest this part of the business at a later date. On the other hand, Carmeuse’s expertise running rotary lime kilns could certainly feed into a new cement division if it chose to. MLC’s earlier interest in Cbb and a lack of many other cement companies being linked to the divestment also suggest that the focus has firmly been on the lime side of Cbb’s business. The one cement company that was interested, Yura, has links to lime too. Sister company Cal & Cemento Sur runs a lime plant in Puno Region in Peru, with US$100m plans for a new lime plant in Lima also in the works. The future of the cement division of Cbb is likely to be watched closely.

The FICEM Technical Congress 2025 has been taking place this week in Lima, Peru

Spain: Titan Group has appointed Juan Moreno as Investment and Business Development Manager. Moreno previously worked as a Venture Architect for Cemex Ventures from 2017 to 2025. Before this he was a consultant as the Boston Consulting Group. He holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and a master’s of business administration qualification from INSEAD.

Algeria: Interim Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb, who came to power on 14 September 2025, has chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on the topic of cement and clinker exports, according to a press release from the Prime Minister's office. Those present included the ministers of finance, foreign trade and export promotion, public works and transport, the Governor of the Bank of Algeria, and economic operators active in the cement export sector. The meeting was reportedly prompted by a request from the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

The meeting provided Interim Prime Minister Ghrieb the opportunity to receive presentations on the state of infrastructure at the ports involved in export operations and to listen to the concerns and proposals of the economic operators present. It agreed a series of immediate and short-term measures by streamlining the operation of current infrastructure. Medium-term proposals to target a greater proportion of cement and clinker towards export markets, including investment in new infrastructure, were also discussed.

Kenya: On 16 September 2025, the Kenyan government directed the East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) to pursue a share buyback of a 29.2% stake owned by Switzerland’s Holcim, in what looks set to derail the sale of the shares to a Tanzanian tycoon.

The planned sale of the EAPCC shares to the Tanzanian investor Edhah Abdallah Munif had raised concerns in Parliament over the discounted cost of the deal, which had been set to take place at just half of the company’s stock price. Legislators have queried why shares in the asset-rich firm were being sold at a knock-down price.

Under the terms of the Tanzanian deal, Munif had been set to buy 26.32 million EAPCC shares from Holcim using an investment firm known as Kalahari Cement for a total of US$5.6m, which values the company at US$19.2m. Its share price on 17 September 2025 suggested a value of around US$38.5m.

To proceed with the share buyback, EAPCC must get approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). The maximum share buyback price is 10% more than the average price over a month, while the minimum is the prevailing price on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Italy: Rising sales volumes and declining energy prices have combined to boost the financial results of Umbria-based Cementerie Aldo Barbetti in 2024. It closed with a slight year-on-year profit increase from €23.0m to €23.7m. Year-on-year revenues increased by 5.2% from €174m to €183m.