With an eye toward reducing debt, Cemex is negotiating transfer or sale of concrete and aggregate assets valued upwards of $375 million to its joint venture with Ready Mix USA in Birmingham, Ala.
Sources: Cemex Inc., Houston; CP staff
With an eye toward reducing debt, Cemex is negotiating transfer or sale of concrete and aggregate assets valued upwards of $375 million to its joint venture with Ready Mix USA in Birmingham, Ala. The transaction would span properties inherited in June 2007 from Rinker Materials Corp.: 11 concrete plants, 12 limestone quarries, four concrete maintenance facilities, two aggregate distribution facilities, and two administrative offices in Tennessee; three granite quarries and one aggregate distribution facility in Georgia; and, one limestone quarry and one concrete plant in Virginia.
Subject to the signing of a definitive agreement and regulatory approvals, the transaction would see Cemex contributing $150 million in assets to the joint venture, while selling additional assets to Ready Mix USA for $227 million in cash. In turn, Ready Mix USA would contribute $150 million in cash. Ownership of the entity would remain, Ready Mix USA principals, 50.01 percent; Cemex, 49.99 percent. Cemex formed the joint venture in mid-2005, shortly after integrating the RMC Industries business, and retained a buyout option after three years. The joint venture was chartered with RMC ready mixed, block and cement distribution assets in Georgia and the Florida panhandle, plus like businesses upstart Ready Mix USA had accumulated in Alabama, Georgia and neighboring states.