Reuters had earlier reported that Alonso Quintana Kawage was leaving his post as part of a wider restructuring strategy aimed at regaining investor confidence after ICA's steep slump into debt and a cash crunch. Quintana, the grandson of ICA's founder became CEO in 2012.

Veteran company executive Zarate will be confirmed CEO in an extraordinary board meeting, and will work together with Co-Chief Executive Alfonso Gonzalez Migoya during the restructuring, the company statement said.

The board expects to revise and conclude a business plan by mid-March, and to post results from last year's fourth quarter by the end of March.

ICA has defaulted on about $60 million in interest payments since December and saw its net debt reach 51.147 billion pesos ($2.97 billion) in the third quarter as a slump in the peso caused its dollar debt value to balloon.

ICA's shares have fallen 68 percent over the past year, making it the worst performing stock on Mexico's IPC index.

(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Miral Fahmy)