Cemargos Shareholders Approve Sale of Up to 250 Million Shares

Shareholders of Cementos Argos SA (CEMARGOS), Colombia’s largest cement maker, approved the sale of as many as 250 million preferred shares.

The price and date for the sale haven’t been set, Chief Executive Officer Jorge Mario Velasquez said at an annual meeting of shareholders today in Barranquilla.

Common shares have tumbled 15 percent since the company announced in a Feb. 15 filing that it was planning to sell preferred shares in local and international markets. They rallied 1.5 percent today to 8,940 pesos at 2:27 p.m. in Bogota.

Cemargos said in the regulatory filing that it was seeking to raise cash through an initial sale of preferred shares to allow it to “maximize growth opportunities.” The company has 1.15 billion common shares outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christine Jenkins in Bogota at cjenkins28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net