The Venezuelan government has reached an agreement with Cemex on the nationalisation of subsidiary Cemex Venezuela, Mexican paper La Jornada reported.
 
Under the deal, the state takes control of Cemex Venezuela plants, while the parent company agrees to negotiate a fair price for the facilities by September 26, the report said.
 
At the same time it was agreed that this price will be determined after the parties analyze the results of several audits on the company.
 
Both parties signed an understanding to validate these conditions.
 
"The parties agree that the state has taken control of all the company’s operations, plants and assets," Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was quoted as saying.
 
The agreement was signed by Cemex finance and planning vice president Héctor Medina and Venezuela’s oil and energy minister Rafael Ramírez.
 
Announced on April 3, Venezuela’s plan to nationalize the local cement industry also affected Swiss Holcim and French Lafarge.
 
Both firms have reached agreements with the government, as the former received US$552mn for 85% of its assets, while the latter received US$267mn for 89% of its assets.
 
Cemex Venezuela was expropriated on August 19. However, Cemex rejected the government’s US$650mn offer, as it allegedly requested US$1.3bn for the subsidiary.
  Published under Cement News