Displaying items by tag: Camargo Correa
Camargo Corrêa to sell InterCement for US$6.5bn
20 March 2017Brazil: Camargo Corrêa is conducting talks to sell its cement business InterCement for US$6.5bn. Two bids, including one by Mexico’s Cemex, have already been made according to the O Globo newspaper. The Brazilian conglomerate was reportedly selling a minority stake in InterCement in mid-2015 and in late-2015 its chief executive officer Vitor Hallack said it was prepared to sell its assets to cut its debts.
InterCement is the second largest cement producer in Brazil with a production capacity of 15Mt/yr and 12 integrated cement plants. The country as a whole saw its domestic sales of cement fell by 11.7% year-on-year to 57.2Mt in 2016 according to data from the Brazilian National Union of Cement Industry.
Camargo Corrêa exploring sale of 40% stake in Loma Negra
08 December 2016Argentina: Brazilian cement producer Camargo Corrêa is in talks to sell a 40% stake in Loma Negra. The company is exploring a potential sale with an unspecified number of bidders, according to Reuters and Brazil Journal. The proceeds of any successful sale will be used to reduce the debts of InterCement, the holding company that Camargo Corrêa uses to manage assets it purchased from Cimpor. Loma Nega is the largest cement producer in Argentina.
Camargo Corrêa names Heinz-Peter Elstrodt as chairman
02 November 2016Brazil: Camargo Corrêa has named Heinz-Peter Elstrodt as its chairman replacing Vitor Hallack. The decision to hire Elstrodt is part of the conglomerate’s intention to direct the company towards asset portfolio management away from the construction industry, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. Previously, German national Elstrodt has spent 32 years at the consultancy McKinsey, where he reached the role of Latin America president. The changes in management follow the resignation of Hallack in August 2016 and governance problems following links to the Petrobras corruption scandal.
Cimpor's US$145m investment in Ponta Grossa plant postponed
19 January 2016Brazil: Intercement's Cimpor, part of the Camargo Corrêa group, has announced that its US$145m project to build a plant in Itaiacoca, Parana, is suspended. The decision was made due to the ongoing economic crisis in Brazil. The Ponta Grossa plant had been announced in 2011 and was set to have an initial production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr of cement and create 1000 jobs. The company has not disclosed any details about a new timetable for the project, but has confirmed that it is still in plans for expansion in the coming years.
Brazil hits the brakes
25 November 2015Nine-month financial results from the major Brazilian cement producers have been reported this week and they are not looking good. The local construction market is weak and cement sales volumes are down. This has been blamed on a 30% shrinkage of real estate financing and a 20% decrease in infrastructure works.
Votorantim has seen its cement sales volumes drop by 4% year-on-year to 26.7Mt for the first nine months of 2015. InterCement has seen its cement and clinker sales volumes drop by 7.2% to 21.1Mt. LafargeHolcim has reported unspecified declines in its cement sector in its disappointing third quarter results.
Overall, the Sindicato Nacional Da Indústria Do Cimento (SNIC) - Brazil's cement industry body, has reported that domestic cement sales fell by 7.7% to 49.2Mt for the period. Particular sales drops by region have been observed in the Midwest (5.8Mt, -11.2%) and the Southeast (22.8Mt, -9.4%). That last region, Southeast, is pertinent given that it contains the country's biggest cement producing state, Minas Gerais.
Votorantim has been pointing out all year that its costs are soaring due to issues in Brazil. Maintenance costs, energy-related costs and the impact of the depreciation of the Brazilian Real on petcoke were all hitting costs. Net revenue has grown so far in 2015, with a growth of 5% to US$2.75bn, mainly due to the company's geographic spread outside of Brazil.
InterCement has noted that new cement production capacity in north-eastern and southern markets have reduced its sales volumes and prices by 1.7%. It too has experienced a rise in energy costs, pegged to the US Dollar. To act against this InterCement is implementing adjustment measures including suspending production at two grinding units and the closure of concrete units.
Alongside this Camargo Corrêa, the Brazilian construction group that owns InterCement, has been planning to sell a stake in InterCement to pay off debt since at least mid-2015. At the time local media reported that Camargo Corrêa planned to sell 10 – 18% of Intercement for between US$648m and US$1.17bn. CEO Vitor Hallack confirmed this week that Camargo Corrêa is still looking for a buyer. In the meantime it has extended US$536m of its short-term debt.
All of this is mirrored by wider economic woes in the country. In October 2015 the International Monetary Fund projected a 3% drop in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015. The situation has been blamed on a wider world economy, the slowing Chinese economy and internal factors.
Back on cement, in July 2015, SNIC announced that domestic cement demand could contract by 10 - 15% in 2015 and that consumption could fall to around 60Mt in 2016. Brazil's cement production capacity currently stands at 70.75Mt/yr. Perhaps not coincidentally LafargeHolcim announced a 'portfolio optimisation' in its third quarter results with asset sales of US$3.5bn in 2016. Brazil may be on that list.
For more information on the Brazilian cement industry look out for our report in the December 2015 issue of Global Cement Magazine
Camargo Corrêa offers InterCement assets in debt recovery plan
24 November 2015Brazil: Brazilian construction group Camargo Corrêa is prepared to sell assets to help reduce its US$6.38bn debt, according to CEO Vitor Hallack.
"We put up US$2.41bn to acquire cement manufacturer Cimpor in 2012, which became InterCement. It was a strategic option to double our size in Brazil and increase our international presence," said Hallack. Brazil's economy, however, has negatively impacted the company's plans.
To resolve matters, Camargo Corrêa has extended US$536m of its short-term debt. After negotiating with banks, its obligations have been extended to 66 months from 12 months. Moreover, assets in two companies could be sold off if the price is right and the opportunities arise. The company could sell off textile group São Paulo Alpargatas and seek partners for InterCement, according to Hallack, who reiterated that the company's energy firm CPFL Energia and transportation infrastructure arm CCR will not be sold.
Brazilian cement firms pay up over Indian acquisition infringements
30 September 2015India: Brazilian cement major Votarantim Cimentos, InterCement Austria Holding and Camargo Corrêa have settled a case with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for alleged violation of takeover protocols regarding Shree Digvijay Cement. They have paid over US$115,000 in settlement charges.
SEBI had initiated adjudication proceedings against the three companies over the violation of provisions Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) regulations. It was alleged that the entities failed to comply with certain provisions of the SAST regulations while making an open offer for acquisition of 36.7 million shares, representing a 26% stake in Shree Digvijay Cement.
Loma Negra cement assets expected to change hands
12 June 2015Argentina: Loma Negra, the cement assets purchased in 2005 by Brazil's Camargo Corrêa Cimentos from the Fortabat family in a US$1bn deal and later incorporated into Intercement is likely to be sold, according to El Cronista. Loma Negra began 2011 with a US$400m four-year investment that includes US$250m to set up a plant at San Juan, Puerto Rico. It would be Loma Negra's 10th cement plant.
Camargo Corrêa plans US$1.2bn Intercement stake sale
10 June 2015Brazil: Reuters has reported that Brazilian industrial conglomerate Camargo Corrêa is looking to sell a stake in Intercement for up to US$1.2bn in order to make new overseas investments, according to a report in newspaper Folha de S Paulo.
Camargo Corrêa plans to sell 10 – 18% of Intercement for between US$648m and US$1.17bn. The industrial conglomerate is one of several in Brazil with executives accused of paying bribes for contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, threatening its access to public works contracts and driving up borrowing costs. Two Camargo Corrêa executives have already pleaded guilty.
Folha reported that Camargo Corrêa 's US$2.66bn of debt had led it to seek a minority partner in order to take advantage of opportunities to grow in countries as diverse as Egypt, Mozambique and Paraguay.
Dirce Navarro de Camargo dies at 100
24 April 2013Brazil: Dirce Navarro de Camargo, who became Brazil's richest woman when she inherited the Camargo Corrêa industrial conglomerate, has died at the age of 100.
Camargo died on Saturday 20 April 2013. Her age was disclosed by an executive close to the family who asked not to be named because the matter is private. She controlled a fortune valued at US$13.8bn and was the 62nd richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.
Founded in 1939 by her late husband, Sebastiao Camargo, the conglomerate has played a key role in developing Brazil's infrastructure. It participated in the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, in the 1950s. Today, its interests range from publicly-traded cement maker Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal to a flip-flop manufacturer.
Camargo's three daughters, Regina de Camargo Pires Oliveira Dias, Renata de Camargo Nascimento and Rosana Camargo de Arruda Botelho, are poised to inherit the family fortune. The company spokesman declined to comment on how that fortune will be split up.