Birlas to buy Cemex, Votorantim Cimentos assets

Diversified Indian conglo-merate Aditya Birla Group is planning to buy certain Latin American assets of one of the world’s largest cement companies, Mexico’s Cemex. The Birla’s are also in talks with Brazilian industrial giant Votorantim Group to buy some of their assets located in South America. This could cost Birla Group’s flagship UltraTech cements in excess of $1 bn. Cemex has plants in several Latin American countries including Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Puerto Rico. The company has operations in more than 50 countries and the capacity to produce 96 mn metric tonne of cement annually.Votorantim Cimentos, the cement division of the Brazilian conglome-rate, has more than 30 cement plants in Brazil and is the market leader there. The company also owns a 21 per cent stake in Portuguese cement major Cimpor which also has assets in Latin American countries.Contact: Aditya Birla Group.Tel: 022-6652 5000. Fax: 022-6652 5741.Website: www.aditya birla.com