Lafarge could dispose of Romanian assets in view of merger with Holcim

Lafarge assets’ in Romania could be sold as part of the strategy relative to the planned merger with Holcim to create Lafarge-Holcim, a giant group in the building materials industry, the two companies announced.

The domestic assets of the French-based manufacturer of building materials are to be disposed along with some of Lafarge’s global operations in Austria (the Mannersdorf cement plant), Brazil, France (assets on Reunion Island, except for its shareholding in Ciments de Bourbon), Germany, the Philippines or the United Kingdom (Lafarge Tarmac assets with the possible exception of a cement plant).

These proposed disposals are included in a larger list drawn up by a divestment committee established by the two companies so as to anticipate potential competition authorities’ requirements. Additionally, Holcim’s assets in Brazil, Canada, metropolitan France, except fro its Altkirch cement plant and aggregates and ready-mix sites in the Haut-Rhin market, Hungary, Serbia, Mauritius and the Philippines are also proposed for divestment.

Holcim and Lafarge, global leading companies in the building materials sector with combined turnovers of over 30 billion euro officially announced their merger on April 7, the closing of the transaction being expected in the first half of the next year.

Active in the domestic market for about 15 years, Lafarge’s operations in Romania mainly concern the production of cement and aggregates, after Etex took over the gypsum operations in late-2011 in a transaction that included those in Europe and Latin America as well.

Holcim, which entered the Romanian market in 1997, owns and operates two cement plants in Campulung and Alesd, one grinding station in Turda, 13 environment-friendly ready-mixed concrete plants, 3 aggregates plants, 2 special binder plants, one cement terminal in Bucharest and one in Turda.