Cemex LatAm Launches IPO

Cemex LatAm has launched its Colombian IPO, it says, expected to raise at least $750m. The unit holding the Mexican Cement maker’s assets in Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador plans to sell 126m shares, including a 15% greenshoe, to be divided at the time of sale into Colombian and 144a international tranches. A price range was expected to be made public as soon as today, according to sources familiar with the process, with pricing expected the week of November 5, following investor meetings beginning this week. Sources following the deal point out that it is breaking new ground for Colombian offerings in terms of allowing a price range – rather than fixing the price before taking orders from investors during a prolonged period – and by allowing for the sizes of the international and domestic portions to be determined at a later point in the sale process than is usually done in Colombia. Discussions with regulators about these points are heard having pushed the sale into November from the October pricing the company would have preferred. Cemex LatAm posted $466m in Ebitda in the first nine months of 2012, up from $362m in the corresponding period in 2011. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BBVA, Citi and Santander are managing the sale. The deal comes as part of a plan to sell assets to meet debt maturity payments. Cemex in September got creditors to extend to 2017-2018 more than $7.2bn in debt that had been due in 2014, and followed up with a $1.5bn bond sale earlier this month.