HeidelbergCement strengthens financing

HeidelbergCement has taken further important steps to strengthen its financing.

On 31 August, HeidelbergCement completed the disposal of its lime business in Germany to the Belgian Lhoist Group. Both companies agreed not to disclose any details about the transaction.

In addition, HeidelbergCement successfully syndicated the bridge financing for the acquisition of Italcementi. All core banks of HeidelbergCement participated in equal shares in the syndication of the credit line originally provided by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley. At the same time, the financing volume could be reduced by €600 million from €4.4 billion to €3.8 billion, because the initial risk of a mandatory offer to minority shareholders in Morocco could be excluded.

HeidelbergCement used to operate two lime plants in Germany – Walhalla Kalkwerk in Regensburg and Kalkwerk Istein close to Basel. Both lime plants were modernised in the past years with state of the art kiln technology and generated a turnover of about €45 million in 2014 with approximately 180 employees.

Adapted from press release by Joseph Green

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/03092015/heidelbergcement-strengthens-financing-484/