(Brussels, Belgium) -- HeidelbergCement is restarting the sale of its activities in Israel. This move follows an indication by antitrust authorities in Israel that they would oppose the originally intended sale to Mashav-Initiating and Development Ltd. HeidelbergCement fundamentally adheres to selling its business in Israel and is evaluating various options. The company will continue to focus on its divestment programme of non-strategic business units to further reduce debts.
HeidelbergCement and Mashav terminated the original share purchase and sale agreement they had signed in summer 2009 and the merger application was withdrawn. HeidelbergCement will receive 22.5 million NIS to compensate for losses due to the cancellation of the deal.
HeidelbergCement has already reduced its net debt by more than 3 billion EUR in the last 12 months to a level below 9 billion EUR at the end of September 2009. Main contributors to this development were the strict focus on cashflow, successful disposals, and the capital increase finalized in October 2009. On top of that the company has issued bonds with a total issuance volume of 2.5 billion EUR in order to further significantly reduce its bank debt.