Cemex said it may take legal action after Strabag SE withdrew from buying the Mexican company’s Austrian and Hungarian assets because it failed to gain antitrust approval.
 
Cemex sent Vienna-based Strabag written notice that its withdrawal from the acquisition was invalid and a breach of the July 2008 agreement to pay EUR310m (US$434m) for the concrete operations.
 
“It is unfortunate that Strabag is unwilling to fulfill its commitment as specified by the agreement between our companies,” Lorenzo Zambrano, chief executive officer of Cemex, said in a statement.
 
The Austrian and Hungarian operations are part of US$2.53bn of assets that Cemex has sold or is awaiting regulatory permission to sell since 2008.
 
The two companies agreed neither side could back out before June 30 this year. The acquisition has been approved in Hungary, Strabag said.
 
“Unfortunately, we were unable to conclude the proceedings in front of the cartel authorities within 11 months,” Chief Executive Officer Hans Peter Haselsteiner said in an e-mailed statement. “We made every effort but we could not convince the competition authorities of a positive decision.” Published under Cement News