Cemex units secure ‘APO Cement,’ ‘Rizal,’ ‘Island’ trademarks

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Subsidiaries of Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. (CHP) have purchased trademarks from their parent company in a $12.55-million deal as part of the Consunji Group’s acquisition of the cement maker.

In a stock exchange filing last week, Cemex said APO Cement Corp. and Solid Cement Corp. had signed agreements with Cemex Innovation Holdings Ltd. (CIH) to acquire trademarks “associated with their respective businesses.”

Under the agreement, APO and Solid bought the trademarks “APO Cement,” “Rizal” and “Island” from CIH.

READ: Consunji buys Cemex PH in $305.6-M deal

According to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), a trademark “protects a business’ brand identity in the marketplace.” If registered, the owner is granted exclusive rights to use the trademark.

The IPOPHL website shows that CIH has owned the “APO Cement” trademark since 2005, and the “Rizal” and “Island” trademarks since 2023.

Their transaction comes nearly two months after Consunji-led companies announced their $340-million acquisition of CHP, the country’s fourth largest cement manufacturer, in a deal with Cemex Asia BV.

Among Cemex Asia BV’s assets that will be sold to the DMCI Holdings Inc. companies are the former’s 40-percent equity interest each in APO Land and Quarry Corp., and Island Quarry and Aggregates Corp.

DMCI chair and president Isidro Consunji previously said he was confident of turning around the financial woes of CHP by next year. INQ