Brazil regulator rules against Tupi purchase, Brazil
Brazil’s top antitrust regulator Cade ruled Wednesday against the purchase of cement maker Cimento Tupi by concrete service provider Polimix.
In January 2008, Polimix and Cimento Tupi signed a contract to buy and sell assets. If Polimix fails to return Tupi’s assets in up to 30 days after Wednesday’s decision is published, it will be fined 20,000 fiscal reference units (UFIRs) per day.
Polimix was also fined R$ 422,786 ($251,660) because it failed to inform Cade about the operation within the required period of 15 days.
The Votorantim group has around 25% in Polimix.
Cade board member Luiz Fernando Furlan said that none of the proposals submitted by Polimix considered the possibility of Votorantim leaving the company’s shareholding structure.
"Maybe our concerns are correct: there’s an unknown interest of Votorantim in this market," he said.
In August, Cade expressed concern about Votorantim’s advance into cement and concrete. The company has a 40% share of the domestic cement market.
Published under Cement News
