Votorantim and Huaxin Cement were both linked to the impending divestment of Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional’s (CSN) cement division this week. Bloomberg reported that Morgan Stanley is assisting with the process and that the sale price could be up to US$3bn. Other buyers are also being considered. Discussions are still at an early stage, but CSN hopes to wrap up the deal by the autumn.
CSN announced a debt reduction plan of up to about US$3.5bn in January 2026. In its fourth quarter results for 2025 released in early March 2026 it said that it remained “...
pressured by the high cost of debt and the progress of growth projects.” During this quarter its net debt to earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) ratio over the last 12 months rose to 3.47. It said that this was the first increase in leverage after three quarters of decline and that the result reflected a reduction in cash availability due to paying off debts and increased spending. In late 2025 it transferred its minority stake in rail freight company MRS Logística to its mining subsidiary CSN Mineração (CMIN) for about US$645m. CMIN was designated in January 2026 as the group’s “main growth avenue” generating 33% of group revenue and 57% of earnings in the third quarter of 2025. The group stake in CSN Cimentos was confirmed for divestment at the same time. This division generated 11% of both revenue and earnings. Notably, in a notice to the market in January 2026, the group described its plan for the cement division as a ‘sale of control’ rather than an outright divestment. Of the group’s other subsidiaries, CSN Infra was set for a sale of a ‘significant’ equity stake in 2026, CSN Steel is being assessed for “strategic alternatives and partnerships aimed at maximising short-term cash generation” and CSN Energy is being retained.
Readers may recall that CSN Cimentos expanded in 2022 through the acquisition of Holcim’s business in Brazil. The company started as a steel producer and this remains the source of half of its revenue, although its earnings were just 18% in the third quarter of 2025. It entered the cement business in 2009 and bought Cimento Elizabeth in 2021. The Holcim deal made it the third largest cement producer in Brazil with an integrated production capacity of 12.6Mt/yr from seven clinker producing plants. The company placed its total cement production capacity in early 2026, including grinding plants, at 17Mt/yr. It paid US$220m for Cimento Elizabeth and then US$1.03bn for Holcim Brazil. This covered six of its seven integrated plants. If the US$3bn price tag for the whole cement business is realistic, this would amount to a significant increase in value for clinker capacity in four years. One other point to note is CNS’s focus on its mining business. This is reminiscent of FLSmidth’s pivot to mining also and the divestment of its cement division. The latter company is, of course, a supplier of industrial equipment not a cement producer.
Graph 1: Cement sales in Brazil, 2016 - 2025. Source: Sindicato Nacional da Indústria do Cimento (SNIC).
As can be seen above in Graph 1 data from Sindicato Nacional da Indústria do Cimento (SNIC) shows that cement sales in Brazil peaked in 2021, then dipped a little before recovering in 2024 and 2025. Cement sales were just under 67Mt in 2025, an increase of 3.7% year-on-year from 2024. SNIC attributed this growth to the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) housing programme in the residential sector and the promotion of concrete road building by the Ministry of Transport in the infrastructure sector. SNIC expressed concern about national interest rates in 2026 but has forecast growth in cement sales.
CSN’s decision to sell its cement division means that two of the three largest cement producers in Brazil are potentially for sale. InterCement is reportedly under the control of its creditors in Brazil. Its subsidiary in Argentina, Loma Negra, has been taken over by a consortium led by businessman Marcelo Mindlin. Back in 2024 CSN was signing exclusivity agreements with InterCement to buy its operations in Brazil and Argentina! Debt appears to be the theme here for both CSN and InterCement to varying degrees. It will be revealing to see which companies emerge with the appetite to take on either of these cement companies in the coming months.
