Mexican cement maker Cemex SAB said on Wednesday it would seek World Bank arbitration over Venezuela’s move to nationalize its local cement plants this week — a step it called flagrantly illegal.
The Monterrey-based company announced in a statement that it will file a claim before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, an autonomous division of the World Bank in Washington.
Cemex, the world’s third-largest cement maker, called the confiscation of its assets a “flagrant violation” of Venezuela’s Constitution and its expropriation laws.
It said Venezuela’s offer of US$650 million in exchange for its local operations “significantly undervalues its business in Venezuela.”
Government officials, backed by National Guard troops, seized control of Cemex’s plants in Venezuela on Monday night as a deadline for negotiating terms for their takeover expired. The move marks left-leaning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s latest step to nationalize key sectors of his nation’s economy.
Cemex spokesman Jorge Perez said the company would file its arbitration claim imminently, although he gave no exact date. Cemex will ask for what it considers fairer compensation, he said, without specifying how much the company is seeking.
Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said that Cemex had demanded US$1.3 billion, a figure he called “well above its real value.”
Venezuela’s government had no immediate reaction to Cemex’s announcement late on Wednesday.
Cemex says its Venezuelan assets include three cement plants, 30 smaller concrete plants, a shipping terminal and other facilities.
It entered the country in 1994 when it bought out a Venezuelan cement company, and it until this week had some 3,000 employees there.
Two other cement companies, Lafarge SA of France and Switzerland’s Holcim Ltd, agreed to nationalization terms for their own Venezuelan units this week. Venezuela will pay US$267 million to Lafarge and US$552 million to Holcim for majority stakes in their operations. Both companies will stay on as minority partners.
Given its production capacity and earnings, Cemex said the offer it received was proportionally lower than the other two companies’.
Of the three, Cemex has the largest presence in Venezuela and accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s cement production.
“The Venezuelan government’s actions highlight a lack of respect for the principles of international law and the treaties relating to reciprocal protection of investments,” Cemex said in its statement.
The company, which has operations in more than 50 other countries, has seen its US traded shares fall 1 percent to US$20.78 on the New York Stock Exchange since the takeover in Venezuela.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
RSS