Cemex Leaves Panama, Bets Bigger on U.S. Aggregates

In a single set of moves, Mexican cement maker Cemex sold its Panama operations to Dominican-owned Grupo Estrella for about $200 million and raised its stake to a majority in Couch Aggregates, a supplier of sand, gravel, and crushed stone in the U.S. Southeast.

The Panama package includes the Bayano cement plant in Calzada Larga, Chilibre—about 1.2 million metric tons of installed capacity a year—plus related ready-mix and aggregates assets.

Cemex keeps only its admixtures business in the country. Couch brings seven active pits and five marine terminals that move materials along the Gulf Coast.

The story is straightforward: Cemex is pruning smaller or lower-priority holdings and channeling cash into the U.S., where demand for aggregates is supported by road, bridge, and industrial projects.

But the story behind the story is about how money is made in building materials today. Cement is energy-intensive and exposed to fuel and kiln costs; aggregates are quarried rock moved locally, with steadier volumes, fewer global price shocks, and strong barriers to entry.

Owning pits and terminals close to fast-growing markets can matter more than owning far-flung cement plants. For Panama, a new owner with a regional footprint may influence pricing, service, and investment at Bayano.

Grupo Estrella and Cemex Reshape Regional Cement

Grupo Estrella, parent of the Cemento PANAM brand, has been expanding across the Caribbean and Central America; integrating Panama could tighten supply chains and introduce fresh capital to the plant and its distribution.

For Cemex, the logic is simpler still: control the upstream rock and the waterfront that moves it. Majority ownership of Couch improves security of supply and logistics in a region where population growth and public works support steady consumption of aggregates.

It also extends a broader reshaping of Cemex’s Central America portfolio; the company sold its Guatemala operations for roughly $200 million in 2024.

What to watch next: whether Grupo Estrella rebrands and upgrades Bayano, and whether Cemex follows this with more bolt-on pits or terminals around Couch’s Alabama–Florida base.

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