Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Cemex SAB, the largest cement maker in the Americas, may have to sell shares at a discount of as much as 10 percent to market price as it competes for investor funds, according to Actinver SA.

Monterrey, Mexico-based Cemex, which is seeking to raise at least $1 billion to pay down debt, plans to sell stock Sept. 22, the same day HeidelbergCement AG, Germany’s biggest cement maker, will offer 62.5 million shares. Brazilian real estate companies Rossi Residencial SA, PDG Realty SA Empreendimentos e Participacoes and Multiplan Empreendimentos Imobiliarios SA also plan stock sales in the next two weeks.

“There’s a lot of paper trying to come through,” said William Landers, who oversees about $6 billion in Latin American stocks at BlackRock Inc. in Plainsboro, New Jersey. “They are definitely going to have to compete for investors’ attention and capital.” Landers declined to say if he would buy the shares.

Cemex’s planned 1.2 billion-share offering, its largest ever, will require a discount as “candy” to lure investors, said Rogelio Gallegos, who oversees $255 million in Mexico City at Actinver, Mexico’s largest independent money manager, and plans to buy the shares. David Riedel, the president of Riedel Research Group Inc. in New York, predicts Cemex will offer 5 percent less than current prices.

Cemex would raise 20.2 billion pesos ($1.5 billion) by pricing shares at 16.83 pesos, a 10 percent discount to the Sept. 18 close. The company would raise 21.3 billion pesos if the discount were 5 percent.

The shares slumped 7 percent to 17.39 pesos today in Mexico City trading, the sharpest decline since July 29.

Debt Agreement

Brokerages led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Banco Santander SA will handle the sale, according to the prospectus. Gerardo Ancira, a spokesman for Banco Santander Mexico, declined to comment. The press office of JPMorgan in New York didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Zambrano is tapping the equity market for the first time since 2003 as part of an August agreement with banks to refinance $15 billion of debt and avert a default. Cemex’s debt tripled after the company bought Rinker Group Ltd. in July 2007 for $14.2 billion, just as a housing slump hit the U.S. and spread to the company’s other markets.

“The deal will get done, but will have to be at a discount because of the issues with debt,” Riedel said in an e-mail response to questions.

Brazil Share Sales

Jorge Perez, a spokesman for Cemex in Monterrey, declined to comment on the sale in an e-mail.

HeidelbergCement, based in Heidelberg, Germany, is planning to sell shares after running up debt with the $12 billion purchase of Hanson Plc in 2007. The sale would raise as much 2.87 billion euros ($4.2 billion) based on Sept. 18 prices. Brigitte Fickel, a spokeswoman for HeidelbergCement, declined to comment on the sale.

Rossi Residencial SA, based in Sao Paulo, plans to sell 55 million shares in a public offering that will price Oct. 1, according to a Sept. 14 regulatory filing. Rio de Janeiro-based PDG will sell 56 million new common shares Oct. 1, while Multiplan, based in Rio, plans to offer 26 million new voting shares Sept. 24, according to preliminary prospectuses posted on Brazil’s securities regulator’s Web site.

Share Rally

The Cemex sale, which includes American depositary receipts, will generate interest because of prospects it will whittle down its debt over the next five years and benefit from increased demand as the global economy recovers, Gallegos said.

Demand should exceed the shares offered, said Dan McGoey, an analyst with Deutsche Bank AG in Mexico City. Cemex may sell 180 million additional shares to cover over- allotments.

Cemex shares have almost tripled from this year’s low on March 9, compared with a 75 percent gain in the benchmark Bolsa index in the period. Investors may be looking to buy stock after selling the shares at the beginning of the year on concern that the company might default, McGoey said. The refinancing agreement eases debt concerns for at least two years, he said.

“There’s a good earnings-recovery outlook for the next couple of years and attractive stock valuation,” McGoey said. “We don’t expect any material share-price decline or excessive discount in the stock offering.”

The company also plans to sell bonds that are required to be converted to as many as 400 million outstanding Mexican shares, according to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 8. Cemex plans to exchange the bonds, which won’t be converted to shares for at least a year, for existing peso bonds.

While Cemex will eventually rebound, the stock may already reflect prospects for rising cement demand, Landers said.

“There are still question marks for sure,” Landers said. “Right now, I’m of a personal view that the recovery will be slow.”

Markets

Mexico’s Bolsa index rose 1.7 percent last week, the second straight gain. Axtel SAB, the country’s second-biggest fixed- line operator, climbed 17 percent for the biggest advance. Grupo Modelo SAB, the largest brewer, fell the most in the index, losing 6.6 percent.

The peso strengthened for a second week, adding 0.5 percent to 13.2758 per U.S. dollar, from 13.3372 on Sept. 11.

Yields on Mexico’s benchmark peso bonds due 2024 rose 13 basis points, or 0.13 percentage point, to 8.38 percent, according to Banco Santander SA. The bond’s price fell 1.19 centavo to 113.87 centavos per peso.

The following is a list of events in Mexico this week:

Event                         Date         Forecast
August unemployment rate     Sept. 22        6%
July retail sales            Sept. 23       -4%
Biweekly CPI                 Sept. 15       0.4%
Trade balance                Sept. 14     -$1.1 Bln

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Monterrey at tblack@bloomberg.netHugh Collins in Mexico City at hcollins8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 21, 2009 16:47 EDT