- Brazil conglomerate Votorantim seen as potential buyer
- Portuguese government seen playing role in Cimpor deal (Recasts with confirmation, analyst comments, share prices, byline)
(Sao Paulo, Brazil) -- France's Lafarge, the world's biggest cement producer, said on Wednesday it was in talks with several parties on the possible sale of its 17.3 percent stake in Cimpor, setting the stage for a potential bidding war for the Portuguese cement maker.
A Paris-based spokeswoman for Lafarge who declined to be quoted n="right"by name said in a phone interview that no agreement on the stake sale has yet been reached. She did not elaborate.
Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported earlier on Wednesday that Lafarge was close to selling the stake to Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim. Under the deal, Votorantim would give Lafarge, which already has six factories in Brazil, another four facilities in exchange for the Cimpor stake, Estado said, without saying how it obtained the information.
A spokeswoman for Votorantim in Sao Paulo declined to comment on the report.
At current market prices, a 17.3 percent stake in Cimpor is worth about 716 million euros ($1 billion).
Cimpor is already the target of a $5.5 billion takeover bid by Brazilian steelmaker CSN (CSNA3.SA)(SID.N), currently a minor player in Brazil's burgeoning cement market.
Cimpor's board of directors rejected the CSN bid last month, and investors are betting CSN will end up sweetening its offer.
Brazilian antitrust authorities are worried that Votorantim's move might be "defensive," Estado said, adding that such moves would block an increase in competition in the domestic cement market.
Analysts have said companies likely to be negotiating with Lafarge include CSN and Camargo Correa, another Brazilian cement giant. Camargo Correa recently withdrew a bid for a minority stake in Cimpor but said it remains interested in the company.
Winning the blessing of the Portuguese government, which is reluctant to give up Cimpor to a foreign rival, might help decide the winner of a bidding war for Cimpor, according to analysts, including Pedro Galdi of SLW Corretora in Sao Paulo.
Votorantim is also negotiating with Cimpor shareholder Caixa Geral de Depositos the purchase of a 9.6 percent stake in Cimpor, Estado said. Unlike CSN, Votorantim is not attempting to win control of Cimpor, the newspaper said.
Cimpor has a number of large shareholders, including Portuguese construction company Teixeira Duarte with a 23 percent stake, French cement maker Lafarge with 17 percent, and state-owned Caixa Geral.
Cimpor shares recouped some of their losses after the Lafarge announcement and were down 1.7 percent at 6.16 euros. They fell as low as 6.08 euros in late Paris trading.
Votorantim is the largest diversified industrial conglomerate in Brazil and also the biggest cement maker in the South American country.
Cimpor, one of the 10 top cement producers in the world, is the fourth-largest maker of the material in Brazil and would help CSN improve its position significantly in the local market.
Cimpor's annual capacity of 6.4 million tonnes in Brazil would catapult CSN into the position of the country's second-largest cement producer behind Votorantim. [ID:nN18195825] (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)
By: Guillermo Parra-Bernal
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0314461220100203