HeidelbergCement (HC) has announced that it has sold 50% of the voting rights in its Georgian business to Cement Invest (CI), an investment company jointly managed and owned by the Georgian Co-Investment Fund (GCF) and Hunnewell Partners. Both companies will jointly control the resulting joint venture. The transaction will contribute in total about € 115 million to the future reduction of net debt of HC.
GCF is a private equity fund which was established to provide investors with unique access to opportunities in Georgia’s fast growing industry sectors through a private equity structure. GCF focuses mainly on investments in energy, infrastructure, agriculture, hospitality, real estate and manufacturing. The fund is currently managing assets in excess of USD 2 billion.
“The partnership will enable our new Georgian joint venture to benefit from GCF’s and Hunnewell’s project experience in Georgia,” explains Dr. Bernd Scheifele, Chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “In addition, the joint venture’s competitiveness will be improved with the modernisation of the Kaspi cement plant, where the construction of a modern dry kiln line already started in 2016 and is expected to be finalised by the end of 2018. The disposal is part of our portfolio review and optimization with the goal to generate additional cash flow in order to support our disciplined growth and increase shareholder returns.”
HC started business in Georgia in 2006. The new joint venture operates three integrated cement plants, a cement grinding facility and a cement terminal at the Black Sea coast. The annual cement production capacity exceeds 2 million tonnes. The cement business is supported by a strong network of 13 ready-mixed concrete plants. Aggregates for the concrete production are partly supplied by two own aggregate pits.
