Mexican building materials firm Cemex has cleared a critical hurdle in its seven-month takeover battle for Rinker Group after the target company's largest institutional shareholder, Perpetual Investments, agreed yesterday to sell its 10.3 per cent stake into the bid.

Cemex's $US14.25 billion ($17.3 billion) offer for Rinker now looks set to succeed after the predator pledged to allow shareholders to keep the 25¢ a share final dividend declared at Rinker's recent annual result.