Cemex SA wants Gresik stake

Cemex SA wants Gresik stake

MONTERRY, Mexico (Bloomberg): Mexico's Cemex SA said Wednesday it is still interested in a stake in cement maker PT Semen Gresik if authorities give the world's third-largest cement maker a management role in the state-owned company.

Cemex and Indonesian officials are holding talks to work out terms of the sale that satisfy both parties, Cemex said in a news release.

The government originally offered to sell 35 percent of its 65 percent stake in Gresik, but scaled that back to 14 percent under pressure from the people.

"Despite the actual global economic atmosphere, Indonesia is an attractive market for Cemex and offers favorable long-term growth perspectives," said Hector Medina, Cemex director of planning and finances, in the release.

Cemex said it's interested in pursuing a 14 percent stake in Gresik, which would mean the company won't be buying shares from the small investors that now own 35 percent of Gresik.

Gresik shares have rallied in recent weeks on speculation Cemex would be making a general offer for the shares at a premium to the market price.

Cemex originally bid $418 million to buy a controlling 51 percent share of the state-owned Gresik, including the government's stake and a 16 percent stake held by individual investors. The per share price was $1.38.

Now Cemex said it is willing to purchase a minority share of Gresik if it also gets management participation "that permits Cemex to meet the investment criteria it has established," the company said in the release.

"Additionally, that would permit Gresik to benefit from Cemex's administrative experience," the company said.

The release didn't make clear if Cemex wanted full control of operations or is willing to share management with the government.

A spokesman for Cemex said he couldn't provide further information.

Cemex could be willing to make a similar transaction with Gresik as it did in the Philippine's Rizal Cement Co., in which Cemex bought a 30 percent stake in October and signed a management contract to run the company.

The Rizal transaction handed Cemex control over management even though it owns a minority stake.