Greek cement firm buys into Turkish peer Adocim
Cement company Titan announced yesterday it had agreed to buy a 50 percent stake in Turkish peer Adocim Cimento Beton Sanayi ve Ticaret for 90.5 million euros as part of efforts to diversify its revenue source. Titan, which has activities in seven countries, has seen its profits drop recently after a downturn in the US housing market cut into revenues from its foreign operations. «Adocim is a cement manufacturer with a modern integrated plant at Tokat in the Black Sea region and a grinding plant in Tekirdag, Marmara,» the Greek company said in a filing with the Athens bourse. The deal is subject to due diligence and regulatory approval. For the nine-month period ending in September last year, Titan’s profits dipped 9 percent year-on-year to 193 million euros as annual revenues slipped 4 percent. A significant downturn in the US residential sector and the subprime mortgage market crisis has hit sales in all product lines. Market experts welcomed the news of expansion into Turkey via Adocim that has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons. «It is a good development for Titan as it will increase its exposure in a high-growth emerging market,» Costas Karagiorgos, analyst at Eurobank Securities, told Kathimerini English Edition. «It will help offset part of a drop in US sales due to the crisis in the housing market,» he added. Titan owns a total of 11 production facilities with an annual capacity of 15 million tons. Four facilities are located in Greece, with the remainder in the USA, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Egypt. Shares in Titan, which has a market value of 2.3 billion euros, rose 1.3 percent on the Athens bourse yesterday to end at 30.58 euros, outperforming broader market gains.
