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This is Loma Negra, a company that is preparing to change hands again and could return to Argentine shareholders.
A pioneer in the Argentine cement industry, Loma Negra is preparing to change hands again and could return to Argentine shareholders. This time due to the multimillion-dollar debts of its owner, the Intercemento holding company from Brazil, which belongs to the Camargo Correa family.
The Brazilian shareholders who own the company that was Amalita Fortabats from its founding almost a century ago until 2005, toyed with the possibility of selling it to another Brazilian company, Compañia Siderúrgica Nacional, the main steel company in Brazil, which is among the largest in Latin America. And they were even given time to decide until next Friday, the 12th.
In this short period of time, there is strong pressure from the debt of the owners of Loma Negra, which the market estimates at around US$ 1.5 billion. The Brazilian bank BTG Pactual is in charge of the negotiation.
Marcelo Mindlin, president of Pampa Energía, with assets in electricity generation (thermal power plants, thermoelectric plants, hydroelectric plants, renewable energy) and with his oil company in oil and natural gas. Marcelo Mindlin, president of Pampa Energía, with assets in electricity generation (thermal power plants, thermoelectric plants, hydroelectric plants, renewable energy) and with his oil company in oil and natural gas.
In what is already a trend, judging by the latest operations, this time the Pampa group of Marcelo Mindlin, which has among its assets the construction company Sacde, would be the strongest candidate.
From his logic, it would be part of the integration chain of a construction company that has among its credentials the construction of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline and the reversal of the Northern gas pipeline together with Techint.
Last year, Loma Negras turnover amounted to $422,161 million with an EBITDA (margin before taxes and amortization) of $100,351 million. It shipped 6.4 million tons of cement, a figure that will not be reached this year due to the collapse in sales given the halt in public works and the drop in activity that impacts private works.
Since 2017, Loma Negra has been listed on Wall Street. And now it is divesting itself of the controlling stake, which is 51%. The rest is floating on the stock exchange. It has been reported that the figure could reach US$ 700 million.
The company invested US$320 million in 2021 to expand the LAmali plant in Olavarría and increase its production capacity by 40%, which made it difficult to predict this outcome, which is attributed to InterCements aforementioned debts.
The debts are so heavy that the holding company of the Camargo Correa sisters has begun an ambitious global divestment plan. In June last year, the Chinese company Huaxin Cement Co took over its operations in Mozambique and South Africa.
Founded in 1926, when Alfredo Fortabat discovered limestone in the town of Loma Negra in Olavarría, the company expanded into different factories such as those located in Barker, near Tandil, in San Juan, Zapala (Neuquén) and Catamarca.
It bought other cement companies such as Cementos San Martín in Paraná, has the Ferrosur Roca railway that connects all its plants and a recycling plant, Recycomb, that converts waste into alternative fuel used by its factories. Its assets also include a state-of-the-art logistics centre in Cañuelas, Buenos Aires province.
But the big leap forward came in 1998 when he created Lomax, trucks that deliver concrete directly to construction sites and revolutionized construction methods. At the same time, he created a research and development center that is unique in Latin America and serves to define the type and quantities of cement for each construction project.
The company employs 2,906 people, 1,829 in Loma Negra and another 1,077 in Ferrosur. |
