Cemex Lends Caribbean Cement $102m for Asset Repurchase

Caribbean Cement Co. signed two loan agreements valued at $102 million for the repurchase of assets on its grounds at Rockfort in Kingston, Jamaica, reported The Gleaner. The loans will mainly pay for the acquisition of Kiln 5 and Mill 5 as initially laid out in an equipment sale and purchase agreement dated April 27.

“The remainder, if any, will be used for general corporate purposes,” said Caribbean Cement in a market filing this week.

The two loans were signed on May 28 with Cemex Espana, a subsidiary of Cemex SAB de CV. The loans mark the next step in the unwinding of Caribbean Cement’s obligations to its immediate parent Trinidad Cement Ltd. Cemex is majority owner of both Trinidad Cement and Caribbean Cement.

The first loan agreement of $50 million is repayable in seven years and bears interest at an annual rate of 7.25 percent. The second is a revolving loan agreement for $52 million, priced at a variable rate of LIBOR plus 4.2 percent. That loan also matures in seven years.

The company already reported a $1.3 billion payment toward the acquisition of the assets in the March quarter. The deal terminates an operating lease agreement originally dated July 2, 2010, and returns $118 million of assets to the Jamaica-based operation, based on its disclosures in March. It also includes redemption of about 52 million preference shares issued by Caribbean Cement to Trinidad valued at $40.5 million. The preference shares will be repaid over nine years.

Related posts