The CIMPOR cement plant near Loulé has been sold to a Turkish conglomerate, owned by the Armed Forces pension fund.
Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu (OYAK) has agreed to buy all of CIMPOR’s assets in Portugal and Cape Verde, leaving CIMPOR’s cement production businesses in Latin America and Africa in the hand of the Brazilian group, InterCement.
Despite CIMPOR’s losses of €490 million in 2017, the Turkish buyer is paying €700 million for the business.
This deal involves three factories, 20 quarries and 46 concrete plants in Portugal and Cape Verde.
OYAK is the largest pension fund in Turkey, founded in 1961 to safeguard Armed Forces personnel retirement funds.
The businesses controlled by OYAK now include strategic investments in various industries such as cement and concrete, mining, metallurgy, car building, energy, chemicals, farming, logistics finance and aluminium.
OYAK Cement is a leader in the cement market in Turkey and had a turnover of around $10.2 billion in 2017, employing more than 30,000 people in 19 countries. There is no planned restructuring of the teams in Portugal.
The Turkish company paid €700 million for the company and immediately sold 40% of the company for €640 million to the Taiwan Cement Corporation.
The Brazilian owners of InterCement are in a difficult and unstable economic and political situation so sold off the Portuguese and Cape Verdean assets to reduce high debt levels.
