Cement Maker Underwhelms with Downsized Loan

Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC) managed to close a 5-year loan it brought over the summer without changing pricing on the pricing, but it had to settle with 70% of the funds originally sought. The Mexican cement producer was seeking $200m but met resistance from a stringent lending community. It chose to close the facility, which pays Libor plus 125bp, at $140m. Bankers close to the deal say the tenor was difficult for Mexican corporates and pricing was not quite juicy enough to convince many participants. BBVA led, with ABN AMRO, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Barclays and EDC taking tickets of various sizes.