Cementir sells Italian assets to HeidelbergCement for 315 mln euros (updated)

Cementir Holding NV

19/09/2017 19:05

(Adds HeidelbergCement expected cost savings, CEO comment) 
    MILAN, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Italy's third-largest cement 
maker Cementir Holding  CEMI.MI  has agreed to sell its domestic 
assets to Italcementi, owned by Germany's HeidelbergCement 
 HEIG.DE , it said on Tuesday. 
    Cementir, controlled by the Caltagirone family, said the 
deal had an enterprise value of 315 million euros ($377 
million).  
    The sale will reduce Cementir's net debt, enabling it "to 
take opportunities that could arise in the future", CEO 
Francesco Caltagirone said in a statement. 
    HeidelbergCement, the world's biggest maker of aggregates 
used in concrete and the second-biggest maker of cement, said it 
expects the purchase to generate at least 25 million euros in 
annual cost savings by 2020. 
    "We see strong recovery potential in Southern Europe and 
especially in Italy over the coming years," the German company's 
CEO Bernd Scheifele said. "With this acquisition, we are very 
well positioned to create value."     
    The company said that net investments for this year and next 
will remain unaffected by the acquisition and that it plans to 
sell non-core assets to offset the purchase. 
($1 = 0.8351 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Francesca Landini; Additional reporting by 
Andreas Cremer in Berlin; Editing by Gavin Jones and David 
Goodman) 
 ((francesca.landini@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 66129437; 
Reuters Messaging: reutersitaly.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CEMENTIR M&A/HEIDELBERGCEMENT