Holcim selling shareholdings in Panama and Caribbean
In connection with the nationalization in Venezuela, Holcim announced it is selling shareholdings in Panama and the Caribbean to joint venture partner Argos, Holcim announced in a statement.
As a consequence of the nationalization of Holcim Venezuela, the long-term economics of supplying Holcim produced clinker and cement to the grinding stations and terminals in Panama and the Caribbean is no longer viable. , the company said.
For this reason, effective July 30, 2009, Holcim is selling its shareholding in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as terminals in the Caribbean to its long-time joint venture partner Argos for US$157m (CHF 168m). The Colombian based building materials group has sufficient export capacity in the region. The divestments include a Panamanian company with one grinding station and operations in aggregates and ready-mix concrete as well as a Dominican grinding station operator. To date, both enterprises have been proportionately consolidated by the Holcim Group.
Additionally, Holcim is selling 100 per cent of a company with cement import terminals on four islands in the Caribbean and its minority holding in a grinding station on Haiti. In 2008, these interests in total contributed CHF 107 million to the Group’s net sales of CHF 25.2bn Published under Cement News
