Cemex CEO says company could sell Latam stake, assets in northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, to pay off debt
Cemex could consider selling a 5% to 10% stake in its Cemex Latam Holdings subsidiary, as well as assets in northern Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, to pay off debt, CEO Fernando Gonzalez was cited as saying in a 10 February newswire report.
The Reuters report cited Gonzalez as saying Cemex could earmark half of the proceeds from the sales for debt payments. The report noted that Cemex is trying to recover its previous investment grade credit rating after suffering ratings downgrades from a combination of expensive acquisitions and the downturn of the US housing market towards the end of last decade.
Gonzalez was cited in a 5 February report by this news service as saying the USD 1bn to USD 1.5bn in asset sales Cemex plans to conduct over the next 12 to 18 months would see the sale of non-core items. The plans will repay at least USD 500m worth of debt this year, with most of the funds coming from asset sales, Gonzalez noted.
The 10 February Reuters report cited Gonzalez as projecting a 10% to 12% increase in the price of Cemex products in the US and that Cemex could generate USD 4.7bn in EBITDA in 2018.