Cemex Venezuela defends $355 mln govt takeover sale
CARACAS, June 10 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan subsidiary of cement giant Cemex defended the sale of its international assets in the midst of a government takeover of the company, saying on Tuesday it had not broken any laws.
Cemex Venezuela VCM1.CRVCM2.CR sold its participation in cement makers in Panama, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago for $355 million dollars after President Hugo Chavez ordered the nationalization of the company in April.
Chavez has nationalized wide swathes of Venezuela's economy in the last year, putting key industries like energy, steel and telecommunication under state control.
The Cemex sales aroused suspicion in the government, which last week, ordered an investigation. Small investors have also complained, saying the amount of compensation the government pays in the takeover could be affected.
Cemex Venezuela responded by saying it was told the nationalization would only affect assets and operations in Venezuela. The subsidiary said the international units represented about 30 percent of its total value.
"That investment had no bearing on the functioning and operations in Venezuela," the company said in an advertisement published in newspapers.
"The separation of the shares in non-Venezuelan subsidiaries was not decided in assembly because it is not a legal requirement," it said, in response to criticism from shareholders who hold about 24 percent of Cemex Venezuela.
The company has not said whether the units were sold to an external party of another part of Mexican parent Cemex, the world's No. 3 cement maker.
Cemex (CMXCPO.MX)(CX.N) says the Venezuelan subsidiary accounts for about 4 percent of its global earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
Analysts say the firm will pull out of Venezuela even if the government offers it a minority stake in the nationalized company, a model used in other state-run industries.
Before the recent spin-offs, Cemex's compensation for the subsidiary was estimated by some analysts at $800 million. The money was expected to be used for debt repayment. (Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
