Lafarge has announced that it is selling its Ecuadorian cement operations to Unión Andina de Cementos S.A.A (UNACEM). Lafarge Cementos SA runs a 1.4 million tpa integrated cement plant in Otavalo in the north of Ecuador. The sale has an enterprise value of US$553 million (€405 million). The divestment will help Lafarge in its bid to lower net debt to under €9 billion in 2014.
UNACEM is a Peruvian cement manufacturer, formed by a merger between Cementos Lima and Cementos Andino in 2012. It operates the Condorocha plant in Junín, which has a cement capacity of 2.1 million tpa, along with its 5.5 million tpa Atocongo plant in Lima. Through Skanon Investments Inc., UNACEM began to develop its international cement portfolio with the establishment of Drake Cement LLC in Arizona, USA, in 2007. The plant began operating in 2011 with a clinker capacity of 660 000 tpa. The company also has a presence in Chile and Colombia through its subsidiary Prefabricados Andinos Perú S.A.C. (PREANSA).
Adapted from press releases by Louise Fordham