Turkish cement producer to buy CEMEX's Spain plant for $180m

Turkish cement manufacturer Çimsa has agreed to sign a binding agreement with Cemex to buy the company's Buñol white cement factory in Spain for $180 million. The deal should be inked in April, followed by the completion of the acquisition in the second quarter of the year. Çimsa, one of the world's top three producers of white cement, has investments in Germany, Italy, Russia and Romania.

Çimsa reported on the Public Disclosure Platform Wednesday evening that they are still in talks for the acquisition, adding the purchase of the Buñol white cement plant will be carried out by an existing or planned overseas subsidiary of theirs.

Mexican CEMEX bought the plant from Valenciana de Cementos in the early 1990s. Reportedly, with this sale, CEMEX will reduce company debt and use the revenue in line with its "general company targets."

The contract will be signed in April and the sale will be completed in the second half of 2019, the Spanish press reported, stressing CEMEX's white cement factories in Mexico and the United States are not included in the acquisition.

Established in 1972, Çimsa, one of the world's top three brands in the white cement sector, will become a global leader in this field thanks to this acquisition.

"We are proud to become a world leader today as Sabancı with our new investment in the cement business that we have been in f

or nearly 50 years," Sabancı Holding CEO Mehmet Göçmen commented on the acquisition. "This investment that brings our leading position in Turkey to the international level is a very important step in terms of managing our portfolio in a more balanced and dynamic way. We are targeting global leadership with our experience and know-how by following developments in the world and managing our business at world standards."

Sabancı Holding Cement Group President and Çimsa Chairman Tamer Saka said that the Buñol cement plant is the most technologically advanced white cement plant in Europe, noting that with its expertise in white cement and special products and wide distribution network, Çimsa is one of Turkey's leading exporters as well. "As Çimsa, we generated over 50 percent of our operating profit from overseas operations in 2018. This new and stronger position of Çimsa in the global cement market will also increase our contribution to Turkey's export revenues," he added. "With the addition of the Buñol factory to our production and distribution network, we will make Çimsa the world's largest white cement factory by increasing our white cement production capacity by 40 percent." Çimsa Chairman Saka stressed that with the acquisition of the Buñol factory in Spain, they are moving toward a new stage in the white cement sector, the highest value-added business in the world cement market, adding with this investment decision, Çimsa will have a say in a wider geographical area.

Çimsa, a subsidiary of Sabancı Group, operates in the international arena with terminals in Hamburg, Trieste, Sevilla, Alicante, Gazimagusa, Constanta and Novorossiysk.