The global building materials group has closed or reached binding agreements for sales of approximately US$750mn, which represents 50% of the low end of the December 2020 divestment target range.
The disposal programme is part of the “A Stronger CEMEX” enhancement plan that was announced in July 2018. The plan includes a US$1.5bn to US$2bn asset disposal target by the end of 2020. Since then, CEMEX has announced the divestment of assets in the Baltics and Nordics, the terminal in Manaus, Brazil, aggregates and ready-mix assets in Germany, the white cement business, including the Buñol cement plant in Spain, among other assets. The expected proceeds of these transactions represent a double digit multiple relative to 2018 EBITDA.
CEO Fernando Gonzalez said the group was pleased with the progress of the asset sale initiative.
“We remain completely committed towards the goal of achieving an investment grade capital structure and will continue our disciplined deleveraging and improvement of our capital structure," he added.
CEMEX says that the proceeds from transactions that have closed and those that are still to complete are being used for general corporate purposes, including debt reduction.
