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French Cement Firm Vicat Adds Brazilian Market With Ciplan Deal

French Cement Firm Vicat Adds Brazilian Market With Ciplan Deal

(Bloomberg) -- French cement company Vicat SA agreed to buy a majority stake in Brazil’s Ciplan - Cimento Planalto SA to grow in Latin America’s largest economy.

Vicat will acquire a 65 percent stake in the Brazilian company via a 290 million-euro ($333 million) capital increase, the proceeds of which will be used to pay down “the vast majority” of Ciplan’s debt, the companies said in a statement on Friday.

Bloomberg News reported Thursday that the companies were nearing a deal that would value the target at about $500 million, citing a person familiar with the matter. Vicat, which traces its roots to 1817 when Louis Vicat invented artificial cement, employs more than 8,000 workers in eleven countries and generated 2017 sales of 2.56 billion euros.

With the acquisition of Ciplan, it gains a modern plant near Brasilia that generates cement capacity of 3.2 million tons per year as well as nine ready-mixed concrete plants and five aggregates quarries. That translates to an enterprise value per ton of cement of 145 euros, according to the statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cristiane Lucchesi in Sao Paulo at clucchesi5@bloomberg.net;Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Timothy Sifert

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