Cimpor
Cimpor shares have dropped from a
peak of €6.50 to €5.85 in early February. This is still above the at €5.75 offered by Companhia
Siderurgica National (CSN). On the 25th of January Mr. P A Empis had paid €6.13 for 500
shares, a much smaller investment.
Mr. P. A. Empis was co-opted to the board last year as a non-executive
replacement for Mr. P M C Teixeira Duarte. While the CSN offer still stands, it has become largely
irrelevant and is unlikely to receive much, if anything, in the way of
acceptances.
Votorantim has effectively derailed Camargo Carrêa's approach, which did have plenty of industrial logic, and effectively blocked CSN as well. Interestingly, there has been nothing but silence from Teixeira Duarte, the largest beneficial shareholder with a 22.9% stake. Teixeira Duarte, until his resignation on the 27th of August last year, had provided Cimpor with its managing director in the form of P. M. C. Teixeira Duarte. His departure may well have been connected with disagreements regarding the valuation of the sale of two assets partly-owned by Cimpor and Teixeira Duarte, but this has never been confirmed.
The reason behind Lafarge selling its stake in Cimpor, we believe, should be seen in the changes that have taken place at Lafarge since the retirement of Bertrand Collomb, as managing director at the beginning of 2006 and as chairman since May, 2007, notably the re-adjustment of the group in the wake of the acquisition of Orascom's cement operations, organised by Bruno Lafont. Interestingly, though the deal between Votorantim and Lafarge has been concluded, the final settlement has been left open until further notice.
