There have been several big stories in the cement sector from the Americas this week. Firstly, Cementos Argos revealed its plan to re-enter the US market through a spin-off. Then, the long-running restructuring of Brazil-based InterCement reached a milestone as a new consortium of investors took control. Holcim has also started preparing to delist Cementos Pacasmayo from the New York Stock Exchange. Let’s take a look at the first two stories in more detail.
The Argos story seems similar to Holcim’s spin-off in North America and the creation of Amrize. The US and the Latin American businesses will separate over the next two years.It’s more of a statement of intent so far though. Cementos Argos sold its stake in US-based Summit Materials to Quikrete in early 2025. It has since started importing aggregates into Florida in the US with more destinations in the south of the country planned. It has also appointed US executive Jason Teter, with experience from Vulcan Materials and Lafarge, as the head of Argos Materials, the new US subsidiary.
That divestment in 2025 left Cementos Argos with what it says is a war chest of over US$4bn. The group says it is targeting the aggregates sector in the US because it believes that prices are more stable than cement over the long term. To this end it aims to become a serious supplier of aggregate in the US market, adding up to US$300m of earnings by 2030. This compares to its adjusted earnings of around US$360m in 2025. The group’s competitors may have other ideas. Yet as Cementos Argos said in February 2026 about the sale of its stake in Summit Materials, it was “...consolidating a historic return equivalent to an annual yield of over 20% in US dollars since its entry into the US market - an unprecedented value creation record for Colombian companies in the country.”
Meanwhile, Brazil-based InterCement said that it had completed the second stage of its debt recovery plan on 4 April 2026. The summary of this process is that InterCement entered bankruptcy protection in late 2024, a consortium of investors led by LATCEM, Redwood Capital Management and Moneda Patria Investments took on the company’s debts, injected US$100m into InterCement and has taken control of it in the process. They now intend to restructure the company and have more breathing room than the previous owners, Mover, with less debt now owed (US$450m) and no debt maturities owed until 2031, according to Bloomberg.
Much of the attention about the new owners of InterCement has been focused on the fact that LATCEM is controlled by Argentina-based businessman Marcelo Mindlin. He has also been appointed as the president of Loma Negra, InterCement’s subsidiary in Argentina. InterCement Brazil reported revenue of US$640m in 2025. Loma Negra, by comparison, reported revenue of US$607m at the same time. It is a significant subsidiary in other words.
The Cementos Argos and InterCement stories are pretty different. Cementos Argos is looking to head back into the US market and reinvest some of the proceeds from its sale of Summit Materials. It is aiming at aggregates not cement this time. It is planning on using a similar approach to Holcim by spinning off its US subsidiary, although it intends to do this as it builds the business. InterCement, meanwhile, may have bought itself some time with the new investors. Its debts appear much reduced but are still large, suggesting there is considerable impetus for restructuring the business. Potential entrants to the cement market in Brazil take note. The link by Mindlin to Argentina suggests that Loma Negra may be more likely to stay together but we’ll just have to wait and see.
