On Friday, the world's No. 3 cement maker Cemex SAB de CV
sold its Canary Islands operations to Cimpor Inversiones SA, a Spanish investment holding company. The deal is valued at about €162 million ($211 million). And Cemex, once an avid acquirer, will use that money to reduce debt as it's reeling from last year's
$16 billion acquisition of Australia's Rinker Ltd., which had 80% of its operations in the U.S. It not only faces a battered U.S. housing market, but also a slowdown in key European markets such as Spain.
The Canary Islands operations together generated about €189 million in revenues last year. Cemex began its global selloff in March when it sold 90% of its stake in telecom company Axtel for $257 million. In May, it hired Morgan Stanley to advise it on the sale of assets in Austria, Hungary and select building products in the U.K.
In other news, the European Union Competition Authority started an investigation into French cement maker Lafarge SA and Mexico's Cemex. Cemex confirmed that representatives have conducted a search in its offices in Germany and the U.K. A report notes the last major probe was in 1994, when the European Commission fined cement companies including Lafarge for
operating as a cartel, dividing up cement markets and sharing information.
Lafarge has been doing some selling of its own, too. The Deal's Paul Whitfield reported that Lafarge has embarked on selling a series of assets since January 2006. On Tuesday Lafarge sold its Italian cement business to Italy's Societa Per Azioni Centrale Cementiere Italiane SpA, or Sacci, for €290 million. -
Baz HiralalCemex sells Canary Islands operations
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