HeidelbergCement Agrees to Acquire 45% Stake in Italcementi

Germany’s HeidelbergCement has agreed to purchase a 45% stake in Italy’s Italcementi SpA for EUR 1.67 B from Italmobiliare.

In Bulgaria Italcementi Group owns the cement plants in Devnya and Dimitrovgrad, Devnya Cement and Vulkan Cement, respectively.

Asked to comment on the consequences of the deal, representatives of Devnya Cement told Bulgarian daily Capital that they had not been informed yet whether Tuesday’s deal between Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG and Italy’s Italcementi SpA would affect them.

The deal will create the world’s second-biggest producer of cement and the third-largest in ready-mix concrete, according to reports of the Wall Street Journal.

The new entity will have a production capacity of around 200 million metric tonnes of cement, 275 million metric tonnes of aggregates, and 49 million cubic meters of ready mixed concrete.

The companies reported 2014 sales totaling EUR 16.8 B from activities in 60-plus countries.

The deal is expected to be finalized in 2016.

Italcementi Group set foot on the Bulgarian market in 1998, when it bought Devnya Cement, a company with a production facility situated near the port city of Varna.

In early 1999, Italcementi Group bought Vulkan Cement, a company with a production plant located near Dimitrovgrad, in south-central Bulgaria.

In June Italcementi Group officially launched a new EUR 320 M clinker and cement production line at the Devnya Cement plant.

The capacity of the new production line amounts to more than 4000 tonnes of cement a day.

The revenues of Devnya Cement in 2014 increased by around 7% to BGN 110 M, while its profit stood at BGN 2.5 M.

The company has a total headcount of around 250.

HeidelbergCement used to have business operations in Bulgaria when it was owner of the cement plants Zlatna Panega and Granitoid.

In 2004 the German company sold the plants to Greece’s Titan Cement.

Apart from Italcementi Group, there are two other producers of cement in Bulgaria, Holcim Bulgaria SC (former Beloizvorski Cement), owner of the Holcim Beli Izvor and Plevenski Cement plants, and Greece’s Titan Cement, owner of Zlatna Panega Cement, according to Capital daily.

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