Markets · Colombia · Cement
Key Facts
—The deal. Mexico’s Cemex is selling much of its Colombian business for about $555 million, in several transactions.
—The buyer. Swiss rival Holcim takes the biggest slice for $485 million, including the Caracolito cement plant and more than twenty other sites.
—The price. The combined sale values the assets at roughly ten times their 2025 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
—The remainder. Cemex keeps two cement plants, at Maceo and Cúcuta, with combined capacity of about one and a half million tonnes a year.
—The timing. The Holcim deal is expected to close around the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval.
While Mexico’s Cemex trims, Switzerland’s Holcim is doing the opposite. Its $485 million purchase of most of Cemex’s Colombian business is the latest move in Holcim’s push to build scale across Latin America.
For a foreign reader, this is a window into how the region’s homegrown multinationals now manage their sprawl. Cemex is one of the great Mexican multilatinas, built by expanding abroad, and it is now trimming rather than growing.
The company announced the move from its Monterrey headquarters. It said it would sell certain Colombian operations through several separate deals, for a combined price of about $555 million, valuing the assets at roughly ten times last year’s core earnings.
How Holcim is expanding while Cemex retreats
The centrepiece is a deal with Holcim, the Swiss building-materials group. According to Cemex’s own announcement, Holcim pays $485 million for a cement plant, a grinding mill and more than twenty concrete and aggregates sites.
The rest is smaller and still in play. Cemex is negotiating with other buyers for remaining assets in the same region, a batch it expects to fetch a further $70 million or so on top of the Holcim price.
Crucially, Cemex is not leaving Colombia altogether. It keeps two cement plants, at Maceo and Cúcuta, with combined annual capacity of about one and a half million tonnes, plus a grinding mill and some concrete and aggregates operations.
For Holcim the logic is expansion, not retreat. The Swiss group already runs a cement plant and a string of retail stores in Colombia, and the purchase adds more than twenty production sites with projected annual sales of around $360 million.
Why a Mexican giant is selling and a Swiss one is buying
The two companies are reading the same market differently. Cemex has spent recent years cutting debt and sharpening its focus, selling non-core assets to fund investment where it sees stronger long-term returns.
Holcim, by contrast, is in growth mode in Latin America under a strategy it markets as building out attractive markets. Buying an established Colombian footprint in one move is faster than building it plant by plant.
For investors and residents, the deal is a quiet marker of how the cement map is being redrawn. Ownership of the plants that supply Colombia’s construction boom is shifting from a Mexican hand to a Swiss one, without a single new factory being built.
The wider backdrop is a construction market that is far from booming. Colombia’s economy has grown only modestly, high interest rates have held back building, and a cement business here is a bet on recovery rather than on today’s demand.
That helps explain the price. Ten times core earnings is a full valuation for a slow market, a sign that Holcim is paying for position and scale rather than for a market that is surging right now.
For Cemex, the cash matters more than the flags on a map. Freeing up several hundred million dollars lets it keep paying down debt and direct capital toward markets where it believes returns will be higher over the coming decade.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Cemex Colombia sale include?
Cemex is selling much of its Colombian business for about $555 million across several deals. The largest, with Holcim, covers a cement plant, a grinding mill and more than twenty concrete and aggregates sites for $485 million.
Is Cemex leaving Colombia entirely?
Cemex is not leaving entirely. It keeps two cement plants, at Maceo and Cúcuta, with combined capacity of about one and a half million tonnes a year, plus a grinding mill and other operations, trimming its footprint rather than exiting.
Why does this matter?
The deal shows a Mexican multinational streamlining while a Swiss rival expands, reshaping who supplies Colombia’s construction market. It is a clear example of how global building-materials firms are trading positions across Latin America.
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