Schedule to TO-C
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE
TO
Tender
Offer Statement under Section 14(d)(1) or 13(e)(1)
of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
RINKER
GROUP LIMITED
(Name
of
Subject Company (Issuer))
CEMEX
Australia Pty Ltd
(Names
of
Filing Persons (identifying status as offeror))
Ordinary
Shares,
American
Depositary Shares, each representing the right to receive five Ordinary Shares
(Title
of
Class of Securities)
Ordinary
Shares, ISIN AU000000RIN3
American
Depositary Shares, CUSIP 76687M101, ISIN US76687M1018
(CUSIP
Number of Class of Securities)
Mr.
Ramiro G. Villarreal Morales
General
Counsel
Av.
Ricardo Margain Zozaya #325,
Colonia
Valle del Campestre,
Garza
Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico 66265
(Name,
address and telephone number of
person
authorized to receive notices and communications on behalf of filing
person)
With
a copy to:
Richard
Hall
Cravath,
Swaine & Moore LLP
Worldwide
Plaza
825 Eighth
Avenue
New York,
NY 10019
CALCULATION
OF FILING FEE
Transaction
Valuation
|
Amount
of Filing Fee
|
Not
Applicable*
|
Not
Applicable*
|
*
Pursuant to General Instruction D to Schedule TO, no filing fee is required
because this filing contains only preliminary communications made before the
commencement of a tender offer.
o
|
Check
the box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Rule 0-11(a)(2)
and identify the filing with which the offsetting fee was previously
paid.
Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or
the Form
or Schedule and the date of its filing.
|
Amount
Previously Paid: N.A.
|
|
Form
or Registration No.: N.A.
Filing
Party: N.A.
Date
Filed: N.A.
|
|
|
x
|
Check
the box if the filing relates solely to preliminary communications
made
before the commencement of a tender offer.
|
Check
the appropriate boxes below to designate any transactions to which
the
statement relates:
|
x
|
third-party
tender offer subject to Rule 14d-1.
|
o
|
issuer
tender offer subject to Rule 13e-4.
|
o
|
going-private
transaction subject to Rule 13e-3
|
o
|
amendment
to Schedule 13D under Rule 13d-2
|
Check
the
following box if the filing is a final amendment reporting the results of the
tender offer: o
Item
12. Exhibits.
Exhibit
|
|
Description
|
(a)(5)(C)
|
|
Transcript
of Presentation by CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., on October 27,
2006.
|
|
|
|
Item 12.
Exhibit Index.
Exhibit
|
|
Description
|
(a)(5)(C)
|
|
Transcript
of Presentation by CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V., on October 27,
2006.
|
|
|
|
4
Transcript of Presentation by CEMEX
Exhibit
(a)(5)(C)
Investors
and security holders are urged to read the Bidder's Statement from CEMEX
Australia Pty Ltd ("Bidder") regarding the proposed Offer described below,
when
it becomes available, as it will contain important information. Once filed
in
the United States with the Commission, the Bidder's Statement will be available
on the Commission's web site. Investors and security holders may obtain a
free
copy of the Bidder's Statement (when it is available) and other documents
filed
by Bidder with the Commission on the Commission's web site at www.sec.gov.
The
Bidder's Statement and these other documents may also be obtained for free
from
Bidder, when they become available, by directing a request to the CEMEX Offer
Information Line on 1300 721 344 (within Australia) or 1 (866) 244 -1296
(toll
free within the United States).
Forward-Looking
Statements
This
transcript includes “forward-looking statements.” These statements contain the
words “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “estimate”, “expect” and words of
similar meaning. All statements other than statements of historical facts
included in this transcript, including, without limitation, those regarding
CEMEX’s financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of
management for future operations (including development plans and objectives
relating to CEMEX’s products and services) are forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and
other important factors that could cause the actual results, performance
or
achievements of CEMEX to be materially different from future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions
regarding CEMEX’s operations and present and future business strategies and the
environment in which CEMEX will operate in the future. These forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this transcript. Accordingly, there
can
be no assurance that such statements, estimates or projections will be realized.
None of the projections or assumptions in this transcript should be taken
as
forecasts or promises nor should they be taken as implying any indication,
assurance or guarantee that the assumptions on which such projections have
been
prepared are correct or exhaustive or, in the case of assumptions, fully
stated
in this press release. CEMEX expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking
to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking information
contained herein to reflect any change in CEMEX’s results or expectations with
regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which
any
such statement is based, except as required by law. The projections and
forecasts included in the forward-looking statements herein were not prepared
in
accordance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants, the Commission or any similar body or guidelines regarding
projections and forecasts, nor have such projections or forecasts been audited,
examined or otherwise reviewed by the independent auditors of the Company.
You
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements.
Transcript
of Presentation by Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. on October 27,
2006
(OPERATOR)
Welcome to the CEMEX conference call, my name is Alicia and I will be your
operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode,
we
will conduct the question and answer session towards the end of today’s
conference. If at any time during the call, you require assistance please
press
* 0 and an operator will be happy to assist you. As a reminder, this conference
is being recorded for replay purposes.
I
would
now like to introduce your host for today’s call Mr. Lorenzo Zambrano, Chairman
of the board and Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Hector Medina, Executive
Vice-President of Planning and Finance. Mr. Medina, you may
proceed.
(HECTOR
MEDINA): Thank you Alicia. Good morning, I am Hector Medina, Executive
Vice-President of Planning and Finance of CEMEX. Thank you very much for joining
us today in this teleconference and web cast to discuss our plans to acquire
Rinker Group Ltd., the Australian building material company. This morning,
we
announced a 100% cash offer to acquire Rinker.
During
this presentation, we will explain why we think this transaction will create
value for our shareholders and our customers as well as for the shareholders
of
Rinker and within the limits imposed by law and regulation, we will answer
your
questions.
Before
we
start, our lawyers have asked me to remind YOU that the information that we’re
about to present may contain forward-looking statements and judgments made
in
good faith and based on information we have available today, which could change
in the future. We therefore urge you to read the full disclaimer and consider
this as you evaluate our presentation.
First,
let me summarize the details of the transaction. We announced an offer to
acquire 100% of Rinker’s outstanding shares for cash at 13 US$ per share. This
is equivalent to 17 AUS$ per share at today’s exchange rate. That price is a 26%
premium to the three-month average price. This offer implies total enterprise
value of 12.8 billion US$, and a multiple of 9.2 times the past twelve
months EBITDA. Of course, this offer is subject to customer regulatory and
other
approvals in Australia and the United States, as well as the approval by CEMEX’s
shareholders. The transaction will be 100% debt-financed, which is already
fully
committed by our banks. We are confident that we will not issue common equity
as
a result of this transaction.
This
transaction will be immediately accretive in terms of both free cash flow and
cash earnings per share. It will lower our cost of capital, we anticipate that
the transaction will provide positive returns compared to our weighted average
cost of capital from the first year of integration. We believe this is a
compelling and attractive offer to Rinker shareholders. Our offer represents
a
substantial premium to keep rising benchmarks. The multiple we’re offering is
attractive, relative to comparable transactions. Rinker’s management made a
presentation in September during which they highlighted recent industry
transactions that offered an average multiple of 8.1. Our offer is 9.2.
Furthermore, our offer is at a significant premium to the average
forward-looking target prices of the analysts and brokers who’ve followed
Rinker. It is a full and fair offer, and we are confident it will be well
received by Rinker’s shareholders. Now let me turn the call to our Chairman and
CEO, Lorenzo Zambrano.
(LORENZO
ZAMBRANO) Thanks Hector and good morning to all of you. I am Lorenzo Zambrano,
Chairman and CEO of CEMEX. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to discuss
with you the strategic rationale for the offer announced this morning to acquire
Rinker. Most of you on this call know us well, you know that we are committed
to
an open dialogue with financial markets. You know that we believe it is
important for you to understand not only what we’re doing, but also why we’re
doing it. You know that we will be responsive as we can, as we can be to your
questions and to your information needs. Most importantly, you know that CEMEX
is a growth company, we have a prudent track record of creating value for our
investors through acquisitions as well as organic growth. With [unintelligible]
-after
we
acquired Southdown in 2000, and after we acquired RMC in 2005, as well as the
other fourteen significant acquisitions we have made during the past two
decades. And I am confident we will do so again, in this transaction and in
the
future.
Why
are
we making this offer? This acquisition will reinforce our strategy of investing
across our value chain in our industry significantly [unintelligible] our
aggregates and our Ready-Mix businesses. The acquisition of Rinker, which meets
our long-standing investment criteria, will improve our ability to serve
customers in the US, the world’s largest and most dynamic building materials
market. It will give us an important position in a significant market,
Australia, which is new to CEMEX as well as a small introduction to China.
It
will allow us to create value through synergies that result from the combination
of our companies. In addition, we will be able to leverage better practices,
both within the US, which generates most of Rinker’s EBITDA and across our
global network. Finally, this transaction will reduce the volatility of CEMEX’s
cash flow as well as reduce our cost of capital. This [unintelligible], 85%
of
Rinker’s EBITDA is dollar denominated. As we have demonstrated over the last
several years, this is a powerful source of value creation for all of our
shareholders. As investors and analysts, you should have two questions: Why
Rinker? and Why now? I’m confident that we will have many opportunities over the
next weeks to discuss both questions but let me give you some answers today.
First,
why Rinker? Rinker is a significant player in the building materials industry.
The company has important positions across the value chain in the US as well
as
in Australia. We recognize management strengths and depth. Rinker has 3.6
billion metric pounds [sic]
of
aggregate reserves concentrated around some of the most interesting markets
in
all countries. And like CEMEX, Rinker is in the business of producing profitable
growth for their shareholders. On a consensus basis, they are expected to
generate estimated revenues of 5.5 billion and EBITDA of 1.4 billion dollars
in
the current fiscal year ending next March. Rinker’s position in the US is a good
complement to ours, although they do business around the country, like CEMEX,
Rinker is focused on the Southeast, Southwest and West. These are the states
with the highest population and GDP growth rates, as well as the strongest
long
term construction projects and prospects. Indeed, after this transaction, we
will continue to generate roughly four fifths of our EBITDA in the US from
four
high growth states; California, Florida, Arizona and Texas. Especially in
California, Florida, the two companies’ assets are generally complementary in
terms both of local markets and industry segments.
Let
me be
more specific, combining CEMEX and Rinker in the U.S. will improve the capacity
of both to serve customers while generating more value for our shareholders.
We
will triple our aggregate business and double the size in our Ready-Mix
business. But we won’t just get bigger across the value-chain, we will also get
better.
Rinker
also has an important position in Australia, where it is the second largest
building materials company. Rinker’s Ready-Mix, Aggregates, Cement and other
building materials assets in a country that is the economic size of Mexico.
This
is a new geography for CEMEX that it fits very well in our global
network.
The
proposed acquisition of Rinker is consistent with our long term strategy. I
believe the best way to create shareholder value in our industry is to leverage
our core cement assets in our value chain. Investing in tight growth markets
and
creating opportunities for strong, sustainable, organic growth. After this
transaction, a bit more than 40% of our pro-forma EBITDA will come from the
US,
with roughly 25% from Mexico and almost 20% from Europe and the balance from
the
rest of the world. Over time I would expect our concentration in the US to
be
rebalanced.
On
a
pro-forma basis, the new CEMEX would generate slightly more than 55% of EBITDA
in Cement, roughly 20% in Concrete and 15% in Aggregates.
This
acquisition is fundamentally about value creation, not about size. However,
if
you compare the pro-forma numbers to the rest of the global industry, you will
see that the result is the third largest Cement company, the largest Ready-Mixer
and Aggregates producer in the world. More importantly, to me and to you, the
result will be the most profitable, global, building materials company. That
was
the goal when we acquired Southdown and RMC. And it is the reason that I am
proposing to acquire Rinker to create industry leading value for our
shareholders. An important part of the equation is the cost savings and all
those synergies in CEMEX and in Rinker that will result from combining our
networks. Rinker is a well run company and CEMEX is a well run company but
we
estimate, on a preliminary basis that we could realize recurring, pre-tax
synergies of 130 million dollars annually by the third year of the integration.
As in all of our acquisitions, these savings would count for many different
parts of the business, especially the implementation of CEMEX’s standardized
business processes throughout the combined company in the US. Capturing these
synergies implies one time costs of less than a hundred million.
So
far, I
have answered Why Rinker? now let me address Why Now? CEMEX is committed to
delivering outstanding returns to our shareholders throughout the economic
cycle. We invest for the long term and, as the television commercial used to
say, “we make money the old fashioned way - we earn it”. In practice that means
several things. It means the constant effort to be the low cost producer in
good
times and in bad. It means unrelenting focus in our customers whether demand
is
strong or weak. It means consistent investment in recruiting, training and
developing our people and it means acquiring assets when they make strategic
and
financial sense, not when the business cycle makes it convenient. Of course,
of
course I’m worried about the US housing slow down and about the Florida
residential market but I am confident those are manageable risks. I believe
this
acquisition is the best opportunity we have today to create value for our
shareholders into the future.
The
proposed acquisition of Rinker meets CEMEX’s long standing investment criteria.
As I have already discussed, the acquisition leverages our management expertise
and our global network. We only make acquisitions where we can create
shareholder value. This transaction will generate positive returns over a
risk-adjusted weighted average of cost of capital. We expect it to be
immediately accretive to free cash flow and to cash earnings per share. We
expect that return on capital employed in the transaction will exceed our cost
of capital in year one and we expect that the transaction will meet our 10%
return on capital employed hurdle. This transaction will allow us to maintain
the integrity of our capital structure and, we believe, our ratings. We are
committed to recovering our financial flexibility within three years. And we
will maintain our interest coverage ratio over 5 times well in excess of our
stated structural capital target. Let me emphasize this last point. We expect
to
meet our steady state net debt to EBITDA target of 2.7 in 24 months after the
acquisition is closed. This could require asset sales. This transaction will
succeed only if it is good for Rinker’s shareholders as well as for CEMEX’s and
I believe it is. First, the offer announced today is full and fairly priced,
we
are offering a substantial premium to keep pricing benchmarks that is above
recent industry transactions. Second, I believe the CEMEX is uniquely positioned
to extract synergies beyond this cost savings programs that Rinker has already
implemented. This is not a negative comment on Rinker’s management but
recognition of the power of CEMEX global network, our best in class management
processes and platforms and our demonstrated post-merger integration
performance. Third, as I have said, I’m optimistic in the long run about the
high growth construction markets in which we operate in the US. But in the
short
term I know that CEMEX, because of our size and diversification with more
ability to weather a downturn, if one occurs, than would a standalone Rinker.
The bottom line is that the acquisition of Rinker makes good industrial and
financial sense for CEMEX as well as good financial sense for Rinker’s
shareholders. We have the management, the systems, the network and the
experience to integrate Rinker quickly and effectively and to make good assets
even better. We have demonstrated CEMEX’s capacity to grow organically and by
acquisition, to take advantage of our debt capacity and to quickly recover
our
financial flexibility. I have no doubt we will do so again with this
acquisition.
Thanks
to
all of you for your interest and investment in CEMEX. Now, Hector and I and
the
CEMEX team look forward to answering your questions.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you operator, we are ready to answer the questions of Q & A
now.
(OPERATOR)
Ladies and gentlemen if you wish to ask a question please press * 1 on your
touch tone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to withdraw
your question, please press * 2. Again, it is *1 for your question. Please
allow
a moment while we structure a list.
The
first
question comes from the line of Daniel Altman with Bear Stearns please
proceed.
(DANIEL
ALTMAN) Thank you, it’s Daniel at Bear Stearns. I guess two questions; first,
coming back to the timing issue, you allude to the slowdown that we’re seeing, a
pretty significant pullback in Florida. I’m just wondering, I understand you say
that the company can, is in a good position to manage a downturn, but why not
wait until you see the extent of the downturn before making such a large bid
for
Rinker - that’s the first question. The second question is, if you could talk a
little bit about why this is an unsolicited bid and have you had conversations
with Rinker, do you sense that Rinker management, do you sense that they’re open
to a deal and how much flexibility do you have to raise your bid.
Thanks.
(MALE
VOICE) Thanks Daniel, Hector will answer your questions and then I’ll comment on
that also.
(HECTOR
MEDINA) Certainly Daniel, the timing issue is of course present in all of our
minds but we’re not traders, we’re long term investors, and of course, we look
at the long term perspectives of markets where we operate and the integration
that we could make in these operations with Rinker’s operations. That is what
is, in our minds, when we take a decision in this case. Now regarding the issue
of whether this is an unsolicited offer, we of course prefer to be recommended
but since there have been significant rumors, we felt that it was in the
interest of everyone to come out with this and of course we are always open
to
hold discussions with the Rinker’s management and board.
(LORENZO
ZAMBRANO) And we believe that is a full and fairly priced offer.
(MALE
VOICE) I think, I have to stress that we are ready to meet Rinker’s board or
management at any time.
(DANIEL
ALTMAN) Okay, one quick follow up - Is it important to you that it’s a, it ends
up being a, friendly deal, are you prepared to go all the way, with an
unsolicited bids directly to their shareholders.
(LORENZO
ZAMBRANO) I think it’s very early to say that, Daniel, so we have no
comment.
(DANIEL
ALTMAN) Okay, thanks.
(LORENZO
ZAMBRANO) But certainly, we would hope for a friendly deal, we all
hope.
(DANIEL
ALTMAN) Okay, thanks very much.
(MALE
VOICE) Welcome.
(DANIEL
ALTMAN) Thank you.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Carlos Peyrelongue with Merrill Lynch.
Please proceed.
(CARLOS
PEYRELONGUE) Good morning gentlemen. Congratulations on the announcement. Two
quick questions if I may. First one, can you tell us what is the cost of
financing that you expect on this transaction that you will raise and for
Rinker, could you give us an idea of, in the US, what percentage of its sales
are a function of US residential housing, a percentage of non-residential and
public works.
(LORENZO
ZAMBRANO) Okay, Rodrigo will answer the cost of financing.
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Thank you Lorenzo. Yes, regarding the cost of financing, Carlos, as
you
know, market conditions have improved, they improved from the time that we
acquired Southdown to the time that we acquired the RMC Group, they have
improved since then. We have a fully committed and underwritten, underwriting
for this transaction from the banks that are leading it. However, because we
have not initiated the syndication process with the sub-underwriters, we would
prefer to have those conversations with them first. I think it is safe to say
though that conditions are more attractive than the funding cost when we
acquired the RMC Group.
(MALE
VOICE) Now Juan Pablo and I will see, our director and VP of planning, will
answer your second question.
(JUAN
PABLO) The second question; around 85% of the cash flow of Rinker’s comes from,
of, the US, the remainder, around 15% from Australia and regarding the segments
in the US, around half of the sales come from the residential sector, 30% from
the commercial sector and the remainder from infrastructure.
(CARLOS
PEYRELONGUE) Excellent. Thank you very much.
(MALE
VOICE) Thanks.
(OPERATOR)
The next question, from the line of Marcelo Telles with Credit Suisse. Please
proceed.
(MARCELO
TELLES) Hi. Good morning gentlemen. Congratulations on the announcement as
well.
I have two questions. The first one, are you, have you evaluated the possibility
of asset disposals in the US market, especially that you are going to have
a
much stronger presence, especially in the Florida market. And the other question
is regarding your synergies assumptions of 130 million dollars. Are you
including any synergies, you know, beyond regular costs, like, let’s say,
potential reduction in effective tax rate for improvement in working capital,
is
there anything on that front, included in that 130 million dollars.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you Marcelo, for the first question in terms of asset disposal,
we
have not considered any particular asset disposal. It’s too early to tell, what
is the regulatory needs, and we will wait for that, to consider that. In terms
of synergies, all the synergies we have considered come from operations, that
is
the mostly cost synergies, so none of that includes any tax or working capital
or other synergies.
(MARCELO
TELLES) Great. Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you Marcelo.
(MALE
VOICE) Thanks.
(OPERATOR)
Next question; comes from the line of Gonzalo Fernandez with Santander. Please
proceed.
(GONZALO
FERNANDEZ) Morning everyone. Also congratulations on this announcement. Two
questions; Is there any non-Cement-related assets that you can sell in the
near
term in Rinker and second do you think that the immediate leverage ratios after
the transactions, is, are consistent with maintaining the investment grade
rating.
(MALE
VOICE) For the first one, Gonzalo, there are no non-Cement assets that we know
or have considered with this, in the case of Rinker assets, as for the leverage
at the outset we consider that that is still within the range of our ratings
and
so we would not expect any movement in that respect. I think Rodrigo could
elaborate.
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Yeah, maybe just to add that, Hector, we have initiated the
conversations with the rating agencies, we will of course maintain a close
dialogue with them during the process that we have just initiated today.
We are
committed to maintain our investment grade ratings, as you know, we have
stated
this over time and we believe we will have the flexibility to do so. Of course,
as more information emerges we will share that with you and the market as
well.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you Gonzalo.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Nicolas Godet with Exane BNP Paribas.
Please proceed.
(NICOLAS
GODET) Good morning gentlemen. I will have three questions. The first one is
I
would like to know what is the exact exposure of Rinker to California as a
percentage of US sales because when we look at Rinker’s presentation, California
does not appear. Then, second question, in the US I’d like to understand the
percentage of Rinker Aggregates that are in the US compared to the entire group
and last question; Yesterday, I understood from your conference call that the
Ready-Mix Concrete market would be the most impacted by the decline of the
residential market. I would like to understand why you have focused on a company
mainly exposed to Ready-Mix Concrete rather than an Aggregates company. Thank
you.
(MALE
VOICE) Juan Pablo, you can take it. The first one from California.
(MALE
VOICE) No, we have in California, there is a partial, we don’t have the exact
figure, but comparable information, I would say that it is less than 5% of
the
US portion, no? What our chairman has stated is that California, Florida, Texas
and Arizona will remain, accounting for around 85% of our cash flow in the
US.
(MALE
VOICE) The second question was what percentage of Rinker Aggregates are in
the
US, that’s the way I understood, Nicolas, is that correct?
(NICOLAS
GODET) Yes, it’s correct.
(MALE
VOICE) And that number is around, I would say around 85% come from the US,
it’s
like 92 metric tons, sorry 92 million metric tons coming from the US and around
28 million metric tons coming from Australia.
(NICOLAS
GODET) And if I could complete the question, in the US
[unintelligible].
(MALE
VOICE) Sorry?
(NICOLAS
GODET) What is the proportion of US sales that are Aggregates?
(MALE
VOICE) Around 2 billion metric tons of reserves and regarding your third
question I would say that what we like about Rinker is the exposure that they
have to all the different segments within the value chain - to Aggregates,
to
Ready-Mix, to Cement and to piping Concretes, so within that the value comes
from the whole portfolio and not each one of the pieces.
(MALE
VOICE) And I just to emphasize the fact that we’re taking this decision on a
long term basis and not on the short term situation of the housing
segment.
(NICOLAS
GODET) Thank you very much.
(MALE
VOICE) Regarding Nicolas, regarding the Aggregates, maybe it’s not really
relevant, but as of this transaction it will resolve that, we will become
the
largest Aggregate producer in the world, no? So in the end, we’re also focusing
on Aggregates as we have stated as our long term strategy also.
(NICOLAS
GODET) Thank you very much.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you Nic.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Dan McGoey from Deutsche Bank. Please
Proceed.
(DAN
MCGOEY) Good morning gentlemen. My question is about Mr. Zambrano’s statement
about perhaps the US at 40% would be rebalanced in future years. I’m wondering
if you could elaborate a little bit as to whether that suggests that if there
are asset disposals, it’s more likely the US or perhaps the Australia business
is more likely for disposals. I guess my second question then would also be
just, I know Richard you mentioned you couldn’t comment too much on the
financing, I’m just wondering when you say in all that finance deal whether or
not that includes potential issue and sale of preferred equity similar to the
financing, I think that was used for Southdown.
(MALE
VOICE) On the disposals, or more to the point, on the size of the US in relation
to the CEMEX portfolio. Yes, the US will have a big chunk of our sales and
EBITDA and that would mean not that we would necessarily sell assets from the
US
or elsewhere but that our future growth, in our future growth, we’ll emphasize
other regions of the world. We have said, again and again, that we don’t want
any market to be more than a third of our portfolio and we had Mexico over
that
limit for a while, or quite a while, now it’s under that limit. The US is over
the limit but we will, as I said, rebalance the portfolio by acquisitions in
the
future, I cannot really say where right now, but mainly outside the US. I don’t
describe of course, [unintelligible] acquisitions within the US, but will
emphasize again the rule, or rather rule of thumb, that we have in CEMEX that
we
strongly prefer that not one market is more than a third of our business. Now,
having said all this, you must recognize that US markets are very different
from
each other; the Florida market is different from the California market; Arizona
is different from Texas. Each one has their own dynamic and sometimes they
go in
the same direction and sometimes they don’t. So, we have several, let’s say,
regional economies within the US, each one very large, if they were countries,
they would among the largest countries economically and each of these regions
I
stressed have different cycles, different dynamics, so we are very comfortable
that within the US, not only are we within the best regions, growth-wise, we
are
also diversified within the US and those have a much lower volatility than
any
company who would be the only one in the markets, in the US.
(MALE
VOICE) Now there’s a question about financing, I think Rodrigo
could…
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Yeah, as we highlighted earlier, we do not believe that we will need
to
issue any common equity, as you know; our aim is to maximize accretion to our
shareholders. We believe this will be possible, although we have considered,
as
you alluded to, equity-like instruments as you know the market has evolved
and
today, there are real options to issue securities that have perpetuity options
that have options to deferred coupons and we are considering those as part
of
the mix for the funding of the transaction.
(MALE
VOICE) Okay, so I guess is it safe to conclude that the transaction will
not
deteriorate the investment grade credit rating that CEMEX’s
achieved.
(MALE
VOICE) We are firmly committed to maintaining our ratings and we will do what
we
can in order to maintain them and of course as we mentioned, we have initiated
a
dialogue with the rating agencies and we then can continue that dialogue closely
during the process.
(MALE
VOICE) Come on guys, you heard Juan Carlo before and you’ve seen us working
before, it’s only, what less than 2 years since we acquired RMC and we gained
our financial flexibility very very fast, faster than many expected and now
we
are on the path of a substantial acquisition that we are very enthusiastic
about
because of the strategic fit for CEMEX and the synergies and the quality of
management company so we, and the geographies, the segments where we want to
be,
the areas in the US where we want to be, so we will de-leverage very very
quickly, also remember that I said, and what I say is really a promise, that
we
will go to 2.7 times debt to EBITDA within 24 months of closing, we do deliver
on our promises.
(MALE
VOICE) All right, thanks for your responses.
(MALE
VOICE) Welcome. Thank you Dan.
(OPERATOR)
Thank you, the next question comes from the line of Gordon Lee with UBS. Please
proceed.
(GORDON
LEE) Hi, good morning.
(MALE
VOICE) Good morning Gordon.
(GORDON
LEE) Just a few questions, on the rebalancing, you mentioned that, obviously,
you’d try to rebalance you know, geographically, I was wondering if you’re happy
with the product balance with the portion of EBITDA coming from the three main
product lines. And the second question would be whether this transaction has
any
impact at all on the organic expansion that you’ve been announcing over the last
several months. And finally, in terms of the savings that you’ve anticipated,
the 130 million savings, do you feel that you’re being as conservative in
measuring those savings as you were originally with RMC? Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) First, the savings, your last point. That’s it, that’s what we consider
they will be, that’s where our numbers come from, that’s the number also that we
included in our model, because we believe we will get them, and that give us
accretion to free cash flow from year one. So that’s it. Now, the other one is
the rebalancing and the mix of our products, [unintelligible] you know moving
to
have more Ready-Mix and have Aggregates in our business, RMC gave us a
rebalancing, very interesting rebalancing not only of products, but also
geographically and Rinker will give us the same. I think that we love Cement,
we
love Aggregates, and we like Ready-Mix very much. Your second question was
the…
(HECTOR
MEDINA) The effect of this acquisition on the organic expansion that we’ve just
announced and that is definitely the, there’s no effect and we proceed as we
have announced with the expansion plans we have, mainly in Mexico, where we
announced to many major investments in Cement production capacity, witnessing
the confidence we have in the Mexican market and the rest of the expansion
plans
we have announced and of course, what we believe is that we still have strong
free cash flow after those expansion plans are carried forward.
(MALE
VOICE) We are committed to grow organically and in Mexico, as Hector mentioned,
we have two major projects, but also, other projects that enhance the ability
of
many of our plants to produce so we are [unintelligible] some plants, building
new lines, actually two, and re-vamping the American plant in a major way.
We
haven’t announced that by itself but it’s a 80 million dollar investment. Also,
as you know, we have announced grinding mills in the UK, in Rotterdam, in
Holland, we have announced a new line in Texas, in New Braunfels, another new
line in Latvia, and so on. So, we will continue to that, to do that, and we
will
announce a few other similar expansions or new facilities in the near future.
So, no, we will continue our organic growth and also go ahead with this
acquisition and still deliver the 2.7 times net debt to EBITDA figure that
I
have mentioned within 24 months.
(GORDON
LEE) Perfect. Thank you very much, that’s very clear.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you Gordon.
(OPERATOR)
Our next question comes from the line of Mike Beth with J.P. Morgan. Please
proceed.
(MIKE
BETH) Yes, good morning. I had two questions if I could and the first one,
I
apologize, if I missed it, but could you just give me a bit more detail on
why
you think Australia is such an attractive market, I mean given it’s pretty
concentrated, I can understand that, but it would seem to be limited
opportunities to grow in size given that concentration. And then, secondly,
on
Florida, is it possible to give me some indication of your existing business
in
the US or what sort of percentage that is within Florida, and I know in the
UK,
the competition will always specify what they will allow, is there something,
I
don’t know if there is, but maybe just inform me whether, how much visibility
you have in terms of the assessment of what competition authorities will allow
in the US. Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you, Juan Pablo, could you take the first one.
(JUAN
PABLO) Regarding the Australian market, the Australian economy, we think is
a
pretty interesting economy, has been growing steady around 3% per year, our
industry, mainly in the cement side has been growing also in the line of 3%
per
year is around now close to 10 million tons of cement consumption, the industry
is pretty healthy and in a good situation too, and so that makes the Australian
market a really interesting one. And will add value to our
portfolio.
(MALE
VOICE) Australia is a mature market, but being a mature market it behaves very
well, it’s not without cycles, every country has it, has them, but it’s a very
attractive opportunity for us in many ways, so we are happy with that part
of
the world and to add that geography to our own. Now as for the Florida business
and percentage of our US business and that’s the question you asked I
think.
(MIKE
BETH) It is, yes.
(MALE
VOICE) Sorry, is Florida as a percentage of the new US business in
total?
(MALE
VOICE) our Business currently.
(MIKE
BETH) Yeah. Oh, either would be fine, I’m trying to get to that second point but
either will be fine.
(MALE
VOICE) It will be a while, but Florida will be, let’s say the largest market
currently, today, California is our largest market in terms of cash flow
generation, what is going to happen is that now, Florida is going to, will
become the largest market but what we want to stress is that overall, 80%
of our
cash flow will come from Florida, California, Texas and Arizona.
(MIKE
BETH) Okay, thank you very much.
(MALE
VOICE) Welcome.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Bazou Malik with Mulberger Berman.
Please proceed.
(BAZOU
MALIK) Hi, I have a quick question. Only a 130 million in synergy out of a
13
billion dollars acquisition?
(MALE
VOICE) They’re a well managed company.
(BAZOU
MALIK) I don’t understand, 130 million dollars synergy on a 13 billion dollar
acquisition.
(MALE
VOICE) Yes.
(BAZOU
MALIK) I mean, is there an upside to it?
(MALE
VOICE) This is what we expect. I don’t think we will, you know, obviously if we
find more we will inform you but as of today what we know, but it’s 130 million
and even with that figure, since I gather it is a little bit low, to you. We
make a very nice return on our investment or on our capital employed and we
are
very happy with the year-one accretion of free cash flow.
(BAZOU
MALIK) In terms of your cost of funds, what kind of premium or LIBOR do you
expect to pay for that.
(MALE
VOICE) Well, as I explained just a little while ago, we have not started the
syndication with the sub-underwriters, and so we would rather wait until we
have
those conversations with the sub-underwriters to communicate to the market.
When
we acquired the RMC Group a couple of years ago, the average funding cost was
in
the equivalent range of LIBOR plus a hundred basis points. Market conditions
have significantly improved, since then until now, our ratings have improved.
Our capital structure today is stronger than it was before we acquired the
RMC
Group and we have a fully underwritten and committed facility with very
attractive cost of funding and therefore this is part of what leads to the
accretion on the free cash flow and cash earnings per share.
(BAZOU
MALIK) Okay.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) But we will be sharing more information with you throughout this process
regarding funding costs.
(BAZOU
MALIK) Okay. Thanks.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Carlos Enocillo with Becksor. Please
proceed.
(CARLOS
ENOCILLO) Yes, good morning and congratulations also, I just have to ask you
if
you have an idea of the signing, you’ll be making the offer and when do you
expect to get a response?
(MALE
VOICE) These processes, you know often when they start but you do not know
when
they end. I think, I hope that we can get it as soon as possible but it depends
on the response of the regulatory authorities on the one hand and also on the
Rinker’s board of directors. So we cannot comment more at this
point.
(CARLOS
ENOCILLO) Okay.
(MALE
VOICE) It would be next year.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Lindsay Taylor with CRJ Management.
Please proceed.
(LINDSAY
TAYLOR) Yes, hi, just following up one question. That Mike put through before,
and that’s on the anti-monopoly, or the potential for anti-monopoly issues in
Florida, you didn’t exactly detail how much market share you have in Florida,
but are you concerned that there may be some pushback on the anti-monopoly
sense.
(MALE
VOICE) We have to consult the proper authorities of that and we cannot comment
really, at this point.
(LINDSAY
TAYLOR) The, just one question: the authorities, is that a state issue or a
national issue.
(MALE
VOICE) Oh, it’s the Federal Trade Commission of the Justice Department that
looks at these matters, so you say, countries.
(LINDSAY
TAYLOR) Okay. Thank you. Just one follow question. Are you expecting any counter
bids for Rinker at this stage?
(MALE
VOICE) Sorry?
(LINDSAY
TAYLOR) Counter bids.
(MALE
VOICE) What can I tell you? No, not really.
(LINDSAY
TAYLOR) Okay. Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Welcome.
(OPERATOR)
The next question comes from the line of Jorge Kuri with Morgan Stanley. Please
proceed.
(JORGE
KURI) Hi good morning and congratulations on the transaction. For the US market
only, can you remind us what the mix of sales is by end user today for CEMEX,
that is residential, commercial, infrastructure and how will that look like
pro-forma with Rinker?
(MALE
VOICE) The mix today is essentially a third for residential, commercial and
infrastructure, it’s approximately. That, in terms of EBITDA of the full, the
global CEMEX residential would be 10% of the total CEMEX EBITDA that will come
from residential and then 20% of the full CEMEX EBITDA that comes from the
US.
So residential is 10% of our business right now and on a pro-forma basis it’s
20%, that would be CEMEX plus Rinker, and we are very comfortable with
that.
(JORGE
KURI) This is US only? I’m interested in your mix of end user US only today
versus this pro-forma for Rinker, only in the US.
(MALE
VOICE) One of the things I wanted to emphasize is that CEMEX is a global company
and the global company is when you have complementary and distinct geographies
when you have throughout the world, put you in a much better position to weather
whatever happens in one market. So the effect of a segment within a country
on
the global CEMEX figures is, well, attenuated a little bit more. Rodrigo wants
to make a comment.
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Just to put it in numbers, the contribution to EBITDA coming out of
the
US residential sector for our US business is about a third as we mentioned
yesterday on the teleconference on the quarterly which accounts for about 10%
of
the global EBITDA, consolidated EBITDA, of CEMEX according to concentration
that
Rinker today has is much greater than that exposed to the residential sector
of
the US, it’s probably close to 50% of their global EBITDA is exposed to the US
residential sector and that is why we say that within our system, when you
combine the two companies, we’re much better able to weather the cycles and the
downturns when they come than with the assets as they are today on a standalone
basis.
(MALE
VOICE) And just to stress what Lorenzo, if I may, you were saying before, again,
Florida, California, Texas are three different countries, if you will, in terms
of their behavior, so, talking about US residential market makes, sometimes,
a
little sense and as such, I mean the diversification, the geographic
diversification within the US and the CEMEX globally makes more sense. That’s
why we address the issue of our product makes and our market segments on a
global basis more than that.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you. If I may add a second question. Based on the way you mention
return of capital in Florida, what is that figure for Rinker today, where will
it be once the full synergies have been realized.
(MALE
VOICE) Rodrigo.
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Well now, we don’t have the calculation for Rinker as we calculated
today.
(MALE
VOICE) But, as you were thinking about the return on capital employed on this
transaction, what were the relevant figures that you were considering, if you
could share those with us, please.
(RODRIGO
TREVINO) Well, our estimate is that, based on the potential for cost savings
and
other synergies that we will achieve the return on capital employed that will
exceed the cost of capital for this transaction and we will achieve the 10%
that
we have targeted within the next two to four years.
(MALE
VOICE) Okay. Thank you.
(MALE
VOICE) Thank you. Operator, we have time for one more question,
please.
(OPERATOR)
Our final question comes from the line of Claudio Percado with Battery March
Financial Management. Please proceed.
(CLAUDIO
PERCADO) Hi Lorenzo, Hector, Rodrigo. It’s a very interesting transaction and it
reminds me of several that you’ve done in the past but in some aspects, it’s
very different from others that you’ve done in the past and it reminds me a
little bit of the CBRD transaction, [unintelligible]. I just wanted to hear
from
you as to if, I mean, I think that if, just due to the strength of your balance
sheet, just like CBRD it will be very difficult to find somebody who can match
your offer on an all cash basis. If somebody were to try to match your offer,
what assurances can you give us that you would not get into a bidding war and
that you would show the discipline that you’ve shown in the past.
(MALE
VOICE) We can only say that we are rather disciplined. We have been disciplined
for a long time and we do deliver on our commitments and we just told you of
those commitments. Frankly, right now is not proper to speculate.
(CLAUDIO
PERCADO) Alright. Thanks.
(MALE
VOICE) Welcome. Well we want to thank you all for participating in this
teleconference and web cast and I want to remind you that the presentation
we
discussed today and other offer-related materials will be made available to
our
website at www.cemex.com.
As
always, thank you for your interest and participation in CEMEX.
(MALE
VOICE) Thanks.
(OPERATOR)
Once again, ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining today’s conference, this
concludes the presentation you may now disconnect.