Brazil: Brazil's Camargo Corrêa has launched a bid for the 68.1% stake in Portugal's Cimpor that it does not already own. Camargo Corrêa Cimentos, the Brazil-based cement unit of which is that nation's fifth-largest cement producer, currently controls 32.9% of Cimpor.
It is thought that Camargo Corrêa may be taking advantage of depressed valuations in the troubled Portuguese economy to win control of the company. Cimpor is itself the fourth-largest cement producer in Brazil. In 2010, Camargo Corrêa teamed up with industrial conglomerate Grupo Votorantim to thwart Brazilian steelmaker CSN's bid for full control of Cimpor. Votorantim holds 21% of Cimpor.
This new move may open up the spectre of a lengthly and interesting anti-trust approval if the deal is accepted by Cimpor, especially given that Camargo Corrêa, Votorantim and four other producers were accused of price-fixing in the Brazilian cement market in November 2011.
At the end of 2011 Portuguese media reported that both Camargo Corrêa and Votorantim were preparing to buy Cimpor minority shareholders out. It has now been reported that Votorantim is looking to make use of its option to buy bank Caixa Geral de Depositos SA's 9.6% in Cimpor and thus reach a stake in Cimpor similar in size to that owned by Camargo Corrêa.
