Moscow – Buzzi Unicem, through its fully owned subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, has reached last night agreement to acquire a 100% interest in Lafarge-owned Uralcement, for a cash consideration of 104 million euro (enterprise value). Completion of the transaction is subject to the granting of the required regulatory approvals, it should occur before year end and the purchase price will be paid with available liquidity. Uralcement is located by the town of Korkino, about 40 km South of Chelyabinsk. It consists of a full cycle plant, based on wet technology, with a production capacity of 1.1 million ton/year of portland cement and ample raw material reserves. With the bolt-on addition of Uralcement, Buzzi Unicem aims at strengthening its position in the Urals region and leveraging the benefits of the combined production network with the existing factory of Sukhoy Log. Interesting synergies and opportunities are expected in the areas of logistics, product mix and business administration. Dyckerhoff entered the Russian cement market in 1994, via the acquisition of a stake in Sukholozhskcement and in 2010 commissioned a new state of the art dry process line at that facility. With the investment in the Korkino plant, Buzzi Unicem annual production capacity in the country attains approximately 4.5 million ton/year. (9colonne)
