Displaying items by tag: Cemex Latam Holdings

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings, the subsidiary of Mexican cement company Cemex in Central and South America and Caribbean region, has confirmed that is ‘solving’ the legal issues that prevent the opening of its new plant in Maceo, Antioquia, Colombia. The inauguration of the facility was postponed in May 2017 after authorities stated that the plant had not obtained all the permits to start operations. Jaime Muguiro, president of Cemex Latam, expressed that the company was still awaiting authorisation for the expansion of the plant's installed capacity, which is currently artificially limited to 0.25Mt/yr. The plant has a design capacity of 1.3Mt/yr and has so far cost Cemex US$420m.

Colombia: Cemex Latam, the Latin American subsidiary of Cemex, intends to operate its Maceo cement plant project in Antioquia at a reduced capacity due to difficulties with its environmental clearance. The cement producer will continue building the 0.95Mt/yr plant but it will reduce its output to 0.25Mt/yr once it is operational, according to Reuters. The Colombian cement producer attempted to reverse the annulment of its environmental permits with the local body in late 2016.

In September 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members in relation to the Maceo project and its subsidiary’s chief executive resigned. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20.5m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights, and benefits of the tax free zone for the project.

Colombia: Cemex has received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking information to determine whether there have been any violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in relation to a new cement plant being built by Cemex Colombia at Maceo in Antioquia.

In late September 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members in relation to the Maceo project and its subsidiary’s chief executive resigned. This followed at internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20.5m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights, and benefits of the tax free zone for the project. Cemex referred the situation to the Colombian Attorney General at the same time. The group has also confirmed that it maintains an anti-bribery policy applicable to all of its employees and subsidiaries.s

Colombia: Cemex Latam, the Latin American subsidiary of Cemex, intends to enter dialogue with the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Antioquia (Corantioquia) to revoke its environmental permit for Maceo cement plant project. Corantioquia has requested that the permit from Central de Mezclas, a subsidiary of CHL, be returned to the CI Calizas y Minerales, according to the El Colombiano newspaper. The government agency has removed the clearance on procedural grounds and over the mining rights in the area.

Colombia: The broker named in an internal probe by Cemex Latam has defended his involvement with relation to the purchase of land and mining rights for a cement plant project in Maceo, Antioquia in comments to the La Republica newspaper. Eugenio Correa, representing Calizas y Minerales, says that he has only received US$6.85m from Cemex despite claims by Cemex that he is holding US$20.5m in funds for the project. He adds that Cemex conducted at least 25 visits from its engineers, lawyers and accountants at the Maceo site between July 2011 and December 2015 keeping it up to date on the project’s progress.

Correa says that he originally signed a memorandum of understanding with Cemex for the sale of 340 hectares, economic free zone and the mining rights for US$22.20m in August 2012. He adds that the contract was extended in April 2016 to June 2019. In late September 2016 Cemex dismissed several senior staff members in relation to the project and the subsidiary’s chief executive resigned.

Colombia: Cemex has made organisational changes at Cemex LatAm and Cemex Colombia following senior management dismissals and the resignation of the unit’s chief executive officer in connection to investigations into a land deal in Maceo. The cement producer said the changes would ‘enhance the level of leadership, administration and corporate governance practices.’

The board of directors of Cemex LatAm has decided to split the roles of chairman of the board of directors of Cemex LatAm, chief executive officer of Cemex LatAm and director of Cemex Colombia. Additionally, a new chairman of the board of directors of Cemex LatAm, director of Cemex Colombia, and director of planning of Cemex LatAm have been appointed. The new appointments are effective immediately.

Juan Pablo San Agustin has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of Cemex LatAm. He will also remain as executive vice president of strategic planning and new business development of Cemex. He is a member of Cemex’s executive committee.

Jaime Muguiro Domínguez has been confirmed as chief executive officer of Cemex LatAm. He will also remain as president of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean and is also a member of Cemex’s executive committee.

Ricardo Naya Barba has been appointed director of Cemex Colombia.

Francisco Aguilera Mendoza has been appointed director of planning of Cemex LatAm, and will be appointed director of planning of Cemex Colombia in the coming days.

Cemex added that all of the newly appointed executives have ‘significant’ international operating management experience and on average have each close to 20 years of working experience within Cemex.

Colombia: Cemex Latam has secured an interim contract with the government for its cement plant project in Maceo, Antioquia. The temporary solution will last until the end of an investigation into the irregular acquisition of the land, tax-free area and mining rights for the factory by Cemex Latam Holdings in 2012, according to the El Espectador newspaper. The company also intends to negotiate an extension of the lease contract, as per its original plans, in order to commence operation of the plant in early 2017.

An internal probe into the land deal found that irregular payments of US$20.5m had been made to Eugenio Diaz Correa, an individual connected to the deal. Cemex has fired Edgar Ramirez, vice president of planning, and Camilo Gonzalez, head of legal department, as part of the investigation and Carlos Jacks, the company's regional director, resigned. Cemex Latam has hired an external audit team and legal representatives in the case that was passed on to the Attorney General's Office of Colombia.

Colombia: Cemex Latam has dismissed its Vice President for Planning and the General Attorney for its Latin American and Colombian units following an investigation into US$20m payments related to a cement plant being built in Maceo, Antioquia Province, Colombia. In addition, the unit’s chief executive officer has resigned in connection to the probe, according to Bloomberg.

The South American subsidiary of Cemex found payments of about US$20m had been made to a non-government individual for land and mining rights, and benefits related to a tax-free area where the Maceo cement plant is being constructed, according to a regulatory filing released by the Colombian financial regulator. Cemex has informed the Colombian prosecutors of the results of its internal probe.

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings' consolidated net sales fell by 11% year-on-year US$394m during the second quarter of 2015. The decline was attributed to currency fluctuations and lower sales. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), also adjusted for the currency fluctuations, increased by 2% year-on-year during the second quarter of 2015.

Operating EBITDA in Colombia decreased by 23% year-on-year to US$68m in the second quarter of 2015, with a 24% decline in net sales to US$198m. Adjusting for currency fluctuations, EBITDA in Colombia grew by 2% year-on-year. Consolidated cement volumes decreased by 3%, while ready-mix and aggregates volumes increased by 6% and 3%, respectively. In Panama, operating EBITDA fell by 3% to US$33m during the quarter and net sales grew by 9% to US$79m. Cement, ready-mix and aggregates volumes increased by 4%, 10% and 21%, respectively, year-on-year. In Costa Rica, operating EBITDA grew by 5% year-on-year to US$20m and net sales increased by 15% to US$46m. Volumes for the three main products grew at double-digit rates during both the second quarter and the first half of 2015. In the rest of Cemex Latam Holdings' region, net sales during the quarter reached US$76m and operating EBITDA fell by 7% year-on-year to US$20m.

In the first six months of 2015, Cemex Latam Holdings'cement volumes declined by 11%, while ready-mix and aggregates volumes increased by 4% and 2%, respectively. Compared with the first quarter of 2015, cement, ready-mix and aggregates volumes increased by 11%, 8% and 6%, respectively.

"We are pleased with the continued positive volume performance of our operations in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where we are improving our volume guidance for the year. Additionally, our cement volumes in Colombia increased by 11% during the quarter compared with the first quarter of 2015," said Carlos Jacks, CEO of Cemex Latam Holdings.
"This year our priority is to continue working persistently towards improving our profitability, which has been affected by the depreciation of the Colombian Peso. Additionally, we continue to evolve as a company into a more customer-centric organisation, offering differentiated construction solutions to our specific customer segments."

Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings, the Latin American arm of Mexico's Cemex, has reported unfavourable results in the first quarter of 2015 in Colombia and said that its stocks have been affected, despite the fact that the region turned towards infrastructure improvement projects. As the company's share value in Pesos has dropped by 30% and it has recorded another 35% decline due to depreciation, Cemex Latam Holdings' value in US Dollars is 70% lower.

Company president Carlos Jacks has attributed the poor results in January - March 2015 to the 25% depreciation against the US Dollar, as well as the fact that its 31% growth in 2014 was far higher than the industry average. Another factor was the decision that Colombia should return or generate the same cash flow or the same amount of US Dollars before the depreciation and so it raised its prices, thinking that there would not be a reversal of the exchange rate.

Cemex Latam Holdings will work to recover the price in June 2015 and Jacks feels more confident about the second half of the year. Better sales volumes are expected if its efforts are successful. The company hopes that its local division will return to levels prior to the depreciation of the exchange rate in terms of its cash flow in US Dollars as a result. The business anticipates some momentum in housing programmes over 2016, as well as participation in the first wave of 4G motorway projects and possibly the second wave towards the close of 2015. It projects that around US$5bn/yr will be spent on cement, or US$500m each, while the projects will require some 3.50Mt of cement. The entire market consumes 13Mt/yr of cement. Cemex Latam Holdings will invest around US$180m in 2015 and the funds will mainly be used to expand the production capacity at its plant in Maceo, Colombia or premises in Monterrey, Mexico.