GCC pulls out of US$100m investment
Mexican cement firm Grupo Cementos Chihuahua has suspended a planned US$100m investment in a Bolivian housing project, citing a lack of legal security, according to Bolivian GCC partner Samuel Doria.
"We were completing a study to implement a social housing project in Bolivia, and were planning to invest US$100m in the project, but due to legal insecurities [GCC] decided not to make the investment," Mexican press quoted Doria as saying.
Last September, Bolivia’s national government transferred 33.4% of private cement firm Soboce’s shares in state cement producer Fancesa to the Chuquisaca department government. GCC has a 47% stake in Soboce, which it purchased in 2005.
The government established a 180-day period to pay off the shares, which Soboce estimates are worth some US$280mn. However, the government has yet to make the payment, according to Doria.
Soboce has begun setting up international arbitration proceedings against the government over the nationalization, Bolivian daily La Razón reported. Published under Cement News
