Holcim Sells Caribbean Plants After Venezuela’s Takeover

In the wake of the nationalization of its operations in Venezuela in April 2008, Holcim Ltd. announced on July 31 that it is selling share holdings in Panama and the Caribbean to its Colombia-based joint-venture partner Argos Print. On the same day, Swiss-based Holcim, one of the world’s largest suppliers of cement and aggregates, announced that Venezuela had not made an acceptable compensation offer regarding the nationalization and that it would continue arbitration proceedings with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, D.C. The company says the nationalization undermines the long-term economics of supplying Holcim-produced clinker and cement to the grinding stations and terminals in Panama and the Caribbean. Holcim’s divestiture includes its interests in grinding stations in Panama, Dominica and Haiti and cement import terminals on four islands in the Caribbean.