Belarus to sell stake?

Belarus’ government plans to sell its 20-23% stake in one of the country’s three large cement plants, Belarus’ Architecture and Construction Minister Gennady Kurochkin told a press conference Thursday.  The three plants are Krichevtsementoshifer, the Belarusian Cement Plant, and the country’s largest cement producer Krasnoselskstroymaterialy, Kurochkin said without mentioning which of the plants the government was planning to sell its stake in.

Kurochkin noted that Ireland’s CRH and France’s Lafarge have expressed an interest in Krasnoselskstroymaterialy’s shares, while Russia’s Eurorocement is in negotiations over the purchase of Krichevtsementoshifer’s shares. Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG is in talks on taking lease of the Belarusian Cement Plant, Kurochkin said.

Belarus’ government has been holding talks with the plants’ potential investors for many years but no deals have been struck to date, mainly because of the government’s reluctance to sell a controlling stake, Kurochkin said.