CRH must sell stake in Secil

Building materials group 723 CRH has been told to sell its stake in 873 Secil to its joint venture partner, Portuguese industrial holding company 4425 Semapa.

Secil is a Portuguese manufacturer of cement and ready-mixed concrete, and since October 2009, when CRH last made an announcement on this matter, CRH and Semapa have been engaged in arbitration proceedings to resolve disagreements between them. This culminated in an award by an Arbitral Tribunal in Paris, France, functioning under the Rules of Arbitration of the 4426 International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) .

The ICC concluded that while both parties had breached provisions of the shareholders' agreement, Semapa's exercise of a call option for the purchase of CRH's 49% shareholding in Secil was valid.

The parties are now obliged to complete the sale and purchase of CRH's shareholding in Secil at an equity price of €574 million within 180 business days.

But the ICC tribunal dismissed claims by Semapa for compensation.

CRH acquired a 49% shareholding with joint management control in Secil in June 2004 for an equity consideration of €329 million plus share of net debt at acquisition of approximately €100m.

CRH, headquartered in Ireland, has operations in 35 countries employing approximately 80,000 people at over 3,700 locations.