Holcim fixes rights issue

One week ago, Holcim announced that the size of its rights issue to fund the Apasco buyout and previous acquisitions since June 2001 would be CHF 1.5bn. The buyout offer for Mexican subsidiary Apasco was successfully closed on Friday 12 March, with Holcim’s stake increasing from 68.9% to 93.4%. Holcim will now make a CHF 1.5bn rights issue, asking for shareholder approval at the AGM on May 14 and announcing the terms of the rights issue in mid-May.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank report that he size of the issue is in line with expectations. They estimate the rights issue to be 3.7 per cent EPS dilutive in a full year. Regarding the terms of the rights issue th company hinted last week that the discount would be small. The uncertainty surrounding this issue has now been removed and investors can once again focus on the core investment case behind Holcim.

Holcim’s leverage to emerging market growth, operational improvement in North America as well as
continuous progress in reaching an operating EBITDA target of 30 per cent by 05/06 makes Holcim Deutsche Bank’s top pick in the Building Materials sector.