Three months ago Ancap launched a technical data room aimed at potential partners interested in becoming partners of the company in the area of Portland and lime production. To date, 16 companies have shown interest and 11 have paid a fee or fee of US$ 5 thousand to have access to the reserved information about that business. Most of them are international companies with operations in Argentina and Brazil. There are also other firms with a presence in the local market.
Some of these private firms have already begun visits to the cement production plants located in Minas and Paysandú. However, that process did not start in the best way for the interests of Ancap. In at least three visits, there were protests and distortive measures by the Fancap union, which rejects the incorporation of a private.
One such event occurred during the visit of ex-soccer player and businessman Diego Lugano to the Paysandú plant at the beginning of Februaryreported to The Observer the leader of Fancap in that department, Horacio Depratti. The former captain of the Celeste is one of the owners of Cemento Charrúa –along with Diego Godín–, but on that occasion he arrived along with other businessmen from the Brazilian company Hipermix, the union leader reported. There were also visits from Blue sky and of the Artigas Cements, narrowed down These last two companies are currently Ancap’s main competitors in this business.
Consulted on the subject, the representative of the National Party in the Board of Directors of the entity, Richard Charamelo, avoided giving the name of the companies because there are “signed confidentiality agreements”. In any case, he explained that when the delegations showed up to see the facilities there were demonstrations and surprise strikes at both plants.
In the last few hours, the union announced that if the visits are repeated, production will stop and the furnace at the Minas plant will be turned off, the hierarch said. Faced with this situation, Ancap alerted the union about the risks that can be caused by turning off the oven from one day to the next. The situation was also notified to the National Directorate of Labor of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
The visits of potential partners are temporarily suspended, although they will continue in the coming days, because it is a point that is within the specifications that the companies paid.
In dialogue with The Observerthe president of Fancap, Gerardo Rodríguez, explained that the union has resolved by assembly make measurements every time an investor comes to see one of the industrial plants. That includes strike and demonstrations at the door. “The spirit is to show our rejection of the association,” he said.
According to Rodríguez, on Wednesday of this week a furnace was in the start-up stage and Ancap was asked to postpone it for a few hours because protest measures were going to be applied. “The administration did not give in, so we changed the measure and cut overtime hours and refused to change shifts,” he said.
The process for finding a private
The firms participating in this data room —non-binding— they have access to basic information on deposits, Ancap facilities, acquired equipment, commercial information, personnel affected by production plants and financial statements, among others.
Ancap extended until March 15 the deadline to access technical information, and until April 29 the date for the coordination of visits to the cement plants, and the lime plant located in Treinta y Tres.
Once these deadlines have elapsed, another instance will be opened in which information with a greater level of detail on the operation and the business will be submitted to the interested parties for consideration, and the terms of reference for the selection process and the conditions of association will be presented. The competitive procedure will be carried out according to the contracting rules that govern Uruguayan public companies. Companies may also register directly for the competitive procedure.
It is expected to have offers in the first half of the year, to then move on to the signing of contracts and the consolidation of the association, which may take a few more months, he had told The Observer the president of Ancap, Alejandro Stipanicic.
Ancap understands that it is not in a position to face by itself the millionaire investments that are needed to achieve operating costs that allow it to compete in the local and regional cement market in order to be able to export.
The solution proposed through a comprehensive association seeks a “successful rescue” of the business and try to maintain jobs, the entity had reported. The Portland Division accumulates numbers in the red for 20 years, with losses of about US$ 10 million per year on average.
The entry of a private partner into the Portland business is today a point of conflict with the union of Fancap that opposes that strategy. One of its central proposals is because the State complete the investment for the installation of a third furnace in Paysandúwhich would allow reducing costs in order to be competitive at the national and regional levels, as has been expressed on different occasions. The installation of the new oven purchased in 2012 for about US$70 million requires an additional investment of about US$100 million.
In addition, it is argued that since the State is the main consumer of cement in the country and, in turn, is a producer, it must take advantage of this situation to cover the needs in terms of housing, roads and infrastructure. In this direction, the implementation of a national public works plan is considered necessary. by the government that uses the production capacity available today.
