Vulcan rejects Mexico's 'illegal expropriation' of its investments (updated)

Vulcan Materials Co

27/05/2024 17:27

(Updates with detail and context throughout)
       MEXICO CITY, May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. construction
company Vulcan Materials  VMC.N  on Monday rejected what it
considers the "illegal expropriation" of its investments in
Mexico and said it remains open to a negotiated solution with
the Mexican government.
    The company has been engaged in a years-long conflict with
Mexico's government after officials ordered a halt to limestone
quarrying at Vulcan's mining unit in the coastal state of
Quintana Roo in 2022, alleging environmental damages by the
company, which denies the accusations. 
        Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last week
said that the site had not been expropriated, only closed, and
that it would remain closed at least until he leaves office in
October. 
  
        In a statement on Monday, Vulcan described the
suspension of their operations as "authoritarian" and said it
could not produce or sell materials "due to the arbitrary
actions of the government of Mexico in order to force us to give
up our important investments in the region."
  
        Last year, Lopez Obrador laid out plans to offer 6.5
billion Mexican pesos ($391 million) to buy the land where
Vulcan Materials operates and solve the dispute, but said the
company did not want to sell the land. 
  
        "The truth is that at no time have we received a
'generous offer' to buy our property," Vulcan said on Monday.
  
        "We were given an informal appraisal, without signatures
and without details, that substantially undervalues our assets,
including the limestone reserves of which we own under Mexican
law, as well as the only deep draft port in the region."
  
        
  
($1 = 16.6440 Mexican pesos)

 (Reporting by Kylie Madry and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Writing by
Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Sarah Morland)
 ((Brendan.OBoyle@thomsonreuters.com;))