Buzzi Unicem to acquire 100% of Cementizillo

Cement maker 1451 Buzzi Unicem has signed an agreement to buy 100% of Italian peer Cementizillo. As part of the agreement, Buzzi has already taken over a 47.9% stake in the company from the latter's minority stakeholders at a price of €22.6 million. It will take over the remaining 52.1% stake in Cementizillo at the beginning of July 2017. The transaction includes the payment of a fixed amount of €60mn on top of over 450,000 of Buzzi's ordinary shares, which are worth a total of around €10.2mn, plus a payment ranging between €0 and €21mn based on Buzzi's average cement price in Italy in the three years to 2020.

Specialising in the production of pre-packaged concrete and cement, Cementizillo, part of the Zillo Group, is now working on the sale of non-core assets that are not included in Buzzi's takeover offer. The Zillo Group operates two full-cycle cement plants (Fanna, province of Pordenone and Monselice, province of Padua) and about 40 batching plants. In 2016, Zillo's cement and clinker sales came in at approximately 1.1 million tons and ready-mix concrete volumes amounted to about 440,000m³. In 2016, the Group’s consolidated net sales stood at €90 million and Ebitda at €10mn.

Through the acquisition of Cemetizillo, Buzzi Unicem, in addition to strengthening its presence and market share in Italy, aims at contribute to the rationalisation and consolidation of the domestic cement sector, which suffers from a significant surplus of production capacity coupled with permanently reduced sales volumes. The deal will also have a positive impact on Buzzi Unicem's profitability. Furthermore, some synergies arising from economies of scale and the integration of the main organisational functions are expected, which will also contribute to improving the operating results of the Italian market.