Cemex (Mexico) sells Australian assets

Mexico's Cemex, the world's No. 3 cement maker, said on Thursday it completed the sale of its Australian assets to Switzerland's Holcim for over $1.7 billion in a boost for its debt repayment efforts. Cemex (CMXCPO.MX) (CX.N) announced the A$2.02 billion ($1.76 billion) sale to Holcim (HOLN.VX) in June and was forced to exit one of the world's fastest growing markets, receiving only about half the price it had paid for the assets in 2007.
The completion of the deal helps Cemex repay its $15 billion debt and is a likely relief to investors after another Cemex asset sale in Europe fell through earlier this year. Cemex suffered from a poorly timed purchase of Australia's Rinker in 2007, just before the global financial crisis. The Monterrey-based company has struggled to repay the short-term loans it took on to pay for Rinker but won a refinancing deal in August to stretch out payments until 2014.