InterCement changes hands in Brazil as carbon pricing arrives
Brazil adds cement to its carbon market from 2027; InterCement is already under new ownership and reshaping its perimeter. Every kilocalorie uncut will now cost in euros.
Fuente: Global Cement — Update on Brazil, July 2026
Day after the handover at InterCement
In early April 2026, InterCement Participações closed the second milestone of its judicial reorganisation: a consortium led by LATCEM, Redwood Capital Management and Moneda Patria Investments took control of the Brazilian cement maker and unlocked US$110 million in fresh financing from the new backers, according to CemNet (April 2026). On 15 July, Marcelo Mindlin — controller of LATCEM — told Global Cement that the new management is preparing the sale of its stake in Loma Negra, in Argentina.
Brazil runs roughly 67 Mt in annual shipments and three of its largest operators — Votorantim, CSN and InterCement — are simultaneously running sales, refinancing or change-of-control processes. Over that picture, in May 2026 the federal government published the preliminary design of its own carbon market, with cement in the first phase of the scheme set to start in 2027, after a four-year preparation period; if the roadmap holds, Brazilian cement plants will start paying for their emissions from 2031.
What changed on the board
The National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) had reported 2.3% year-on-year growth in H1 2026 sales, with 32.9 Mt shipped versus 32.1 Mt in the same period of 2025. SNIC itself attributed the rebound to the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) housing programme, which the union said accounted for 50% of new real-estate launches in Q1 and added a 10% lift to sales, with the programme's April expansion to higher-income families expected to drive an additional 5 Mt of cement consumption. The same source projects 2026 could surpass 2025's total of 67 Mt.
The commercial figures do not erase three pressure points that SNIC itself listed: rising and volatile fuel costs linked to geopolitics; a Selic rate that is not falling as expected; and the change in regulated working hours that will lift labour costs in H2 2026. These vectors explain why InterCement's change of control is happening exactly when the sector most needs it: a cleaned-up balance sheet riding a regulatory pivot.
The Knergy Angle
Under the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in definitive phase since 1 January 2026 and with Brazil's own domestic carbon market gearing up from 2027 towards carbon fees in 2031, each kilocalorie left on the table and each TSR point not captured stops being a "technical improvement" and turns into euros or reais per exported tonne. For InterCement, the change of control makes three kiln variables measurable: marginal thermal consumption, the actual thermal substitution rate, and the chlorine/bypass constraints that condition co-processing. None of them proves a contractual saving by itself or supports attributing performance to a technology before measuring the baseline, injection point, flame stability and clinker quality. Process management needs to turn each option into a traceable business case: energy avoided per tonne, displaced-fuel cost, integration investment and the applicable carbon cost. That comparison can rank projects without confusing an engineering hypothesis with a guarantee. The technical decision for the new controller is to define which data already exist, which measurement campaign is still missing and what economic threshold must be met before committing capital.
What still needs confirming
InterCement has not published a new decarbonisation plan post-April 2026, nor the specific investment amounts tied to CBAM or Brazil's carbon market, nor a formal timetable for the Loma Negra divestment. Bids for CSN Cimentos close on 7 August 2026 and a possible contract could be signed in September; the US$2.5 billion valuation CSN wants versus the roughly US$2 billion Chinese bidders (Anhui Conch, Huaxin Cement, Sinoma International) are offering leaves a gap the market is watching.