Cemargos Sells 10-Year Bonds To Raise $68 million

Colombia’s largest cement-maker, Cementos Argos, owned by local conglomerate GEA, sold $67.6 million worth (150 billion pesos) of local bonds on Friday at a yield of inflation plus 5.25 percentage points. Proceeds raised from the sale of the 10-year peso-denominated bonds will be used to replace shorter-term local currency debt, as well as for working capital. The offering is part of a debt program approved in September 2005 to sell up to 600 billion pesos of bonds. The company sold bonds worth 450 billion pesos last November.