Holcim looked at HeidelbergCement before Lafarge deal: newspaper Holcim looked at HeidelbergCement before Lafarge deal: newspaper Tweet Share The logo of Swiss cement maker Holcim is seen on a railway-car in the town of Schlieren near Zurich April 1, 2015. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann More ZURICH (Reuters) - Holcim (HOLN.VX) looked at buying Germany's HeidelbergCement (HEIG.DE) towards the end of 2013 before agreeing to merge with France's Lafarge (LAFP.PA), a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday, citing two sources. Then-Holcim chairman Rolf Soiron spoke with HeidelbergCement's biggest shareholder, Ludwig Merckle, who owns around 25 percent of HeidelbergCement shares through the family-run Spohn Cement, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported. "Right before the talks with Lafarge, Soiron discussed a merger with Heidelberg," the Swiss newspaper quoted one of the sources as saying. "Heidelberg declined it, though, because a merger among equals was not possible." A spokesman for Zurich-based Holcim declined to comment on the report.

A spokesman for HeidelbergCement was not immediately available for comment. The tie-up between Holcim and Lafarge was announced in April 2014. Since then, the deal to create the world's biggest cement business has been thrown into doubt after Holcim shareholders raised objections to terms of the deal including the choice of chief executive. Holcim and Lafarge have now agreed a new share-swap ratio that is more advantageous to Holcim investors but some investors, including Holcim's second-biggest shareholder, are still calling for improved terms. It is also not yet known who will lead the merged company after it was agreed that Lafarge boss Bruno Lafont would no longer become chief executive of the combined company. Holcim investors against the deal have set up a website laying out their arguments. Holcim shareholders will vote on the deal at a meeting on May 8.

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich and Victoria Bryan in Berlin; editing by Jason Neely) Reblog Lafarge - Cement, concrete and aggregates Lafarge completed projects About Lafarge A world leader in building materials, Lafarge, a member of LafargeHolcim Group, employs 63,000 people in 61 countries, and posted sales of €12.8 billion in 2014. As a top-ranking player in its Cement , Aggregates and Concrete businesses, it contributes to the construction of cities around the world, through its innovative solutions providing them with more housing and making them more compact, more durable, more beautiful, and better connected. With the world’s leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities in order to contribute to more sustainable construction and to better serve architectural creativity.

en HeidelbergCement - Cement industry news from Global Cement Italcementi workers prepare for a national strike 25 April 2016 Italy: Unions Feneal Uil, Filca Cisl and Cgil Fillea, representing Italcementi cement workers, are preparing to go on strike on 29 April 2016 in protest against plans by HeidelbergCement to cut jobs when it takes over the Italian cement producer. The German cement manufacturer said that it expects that up to 260 workers will be made redundant and another 170 workers will be offered relocation from Italcementi’s base in Bergamo, according to its integration plan. The unions met with the government on 14 April 2016 and subsequently agreed to go on strike. The unions have presented a counter-proposal to decrease the number of redundancies, including asking HeidelbergCement to confirm that it will maintain production sites and employment levels through the company integration period until 2020. Other suggestions include requests for government-union review of the plan, maintaining a technical centre in Bergamo and providing an additional social security plan for the entire group.

The unions will meet with the government next at the beginning of May 2016. LEILAC secures Euro12m from European Union to demonstrate Calix carbon capture technology 21 April 2016 Europe: The Low Emissions Intensity Lime And Cement (LEILAC) consortium has secured Euro12m in funding over five years from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Grant programme to test Calix’s direct separation process to capture CO2 emissions from cement and lime production. The consortium comprises HeidelbergCement, Cemex, Tarmac, Lhoist, Amec Foster Wheeler, ECN, Imperial College, PSE, Quantis and the Carbon Trust. The consortium will also contribute a further Euro9m towards the project. During the first three years, the project will focus on finalising the design of the demonstration plant, to be constructed at the HeidelbergCement plant in Lixhe, Belgium once the necessary permits have been secured.

The high temperature Direct Separation Calciner pilot unit will then undergo two years of testing in a standard operational environment, at a feed rate capacity of 240t/day of cement raw meal and 200t/day ground limestone respectively, on a continuous basis for several weeks. Fundamental research on the process demands and performance will be carried out to demonstrate that the technology works sufficiently and robustly enough to be scaled up to full operational use. The project results will be shared widely with industry at key intervals during the testing. Calix’s direct separation technology is achieved by re-engineering the process flows used in the best available technology for lime and cement calcination. Carbonate calcination occurs by indirect counterflow heating, and consequentially the flue gases are not mixed with the CO2 emitted from the carbonate minerals. This technology is already operating at a commercial scale for magnesite calcination. It does not require any separation technologies, new materials or processes. The technology is complementary with other carbon capture methods already developed in the power and cement sector, such as oxyfuel, and can make use of alternative fuels.

IKN places order for A TEC GRECO kiln burner 14 April 2016 Germany: IKN has placed an order for a A TEC GRECO kiln burner for the HeidelbergCement’s cement plant at Burglengenfeld. The project will be completed by the end of 2016. It is part of a general upgrade being conducted at the plant by IKN. The scope of A TEC GRECO’s supply includes the engineering, design and manufacturing of a tailor-made combustion system including the required peripheral systems for operation. The burner thermal power will be 75MW. The burner is intended use with lignite, sewage sludge, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), diesel and solvents. A TEC GRECO is a subsidiary of A TEC specialising in burners for kilns and calciners. Update on HeidelbergCement acquisition of Italcementi 13 April 2016 HeidelbergCement released more detail on its plans to buy Italcementi last week .

The main points were that Italcementi’s operations in Belgium will be sold, the Italcementi brand will be retained, its research and development (R&D) centre will assume responsibilities for the entire group and up to 260 job losses are expected in Bergamo. The integration plan is expected to be complete by 2020. Following an update in HeidelbergCement’s preliminary financial results for 2015 in February 2016, this was more focused on the practicalities of taking over a company. Sales of assets in Belgium were expected from the moment the deal was announced in July 2015. Between them the two companies operate three of the country’s four cement plants, holding 73% of the market by cement production capacity. Selling up Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges will maintain the existing market balance. Once this is done, from a cement sector perspective, interaction from the European Commission on the deal should merely be a formality. Interestingly, no plans to sell assets in the US were announced. This is more ambitious on HeidelbergCement’s part because the acquisition has far bigger implications in that country.

Merging Italcementi’s Essroc subsidiary and HeidelbergCement’s Lehigh Hanson subsidiary will see HeidelbergCement become the new second largest cement producer in the US with around 16.4Mt/yr. LafargeHolcim had a relatively easy ride from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) having to sell two integrated cement plants, two slag grinding plants and a series of terminals. As HeidelbergCement will become the second largest cement producer it seems unlikely that the FTC will be too demanding. However, post-acquisition the cement producer will own cement plants within 75 miles of each other in Pennsylvania and in Maryland and West Virginia. The FTC may take exception to this but perhaps HeidelbergCement is trying their luck to see if it can get away with it. The decision to retain Italcementi’s i.Lab R&D centre in Bergamo, Italy raises questions about what will happen to the Heidelberg Technology Centre (HTC) in Leimen, Germany. The focus here is on making Bergamo the ‘product’ R&D division for the entire group.

i.Lab was opened in early 2012 to fanfare, based in a building designed by architect Richard Meier and it cost Euro40m to build. How this fits with HeidelbergCement’s existing Global R&D team at the HTC remains to be seen. Job losses of up to 260 personnel at Bergamo are regrettable but hardly unexpected. It may not be much comfort for any staff members facing redundancy but this figure is well below the figures bandied about in the media in late 2015 of first around 1000 and then nearer 500. Another 170 personnel will also be offered relocation packages taking the impact of the reorganisation up to about 400 of Italcementi’s 2500 workforce in Italy. Looking at the wider situation with the acquisition this week, HeidelbergCement announced a record contract for Norcem, its Norwegian subsidiary, to supply 280,000t of cement over three years for an infrastructure project. Then, Carlo Pesenti, the chief executive officer of Italcementi, was reported making comments about the business’ expansion plans in Thailand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Projects in Myanmar and Cambodia look likely once the acquisition is complete. Finally, the ratings agency Moody’s was drumming up attention for a market report by pointing out the implications for the multinational cement producers in India if a proposed rise in infrastructure spending gets approved. In summary HeidelbergCement and Italcementi are unlikely to benefit due to their southern Indian spread of assets and local production overcapacity. HeidelbergCement may not be getting it all its own way but the acquisition of Italcementi remains on track so far. All eyes will be on how the US FTC responds to the deal. Nine companies bid for Lafarge India assets 13 April 2016 India: LafargeHolcim has received nine non-binding offers for its subsidiary Lafarge India. The bidders include multinational cement producers CRH, HeidelbergCement and China Resources. Local companies which have made bids include JSW Infrastructure, Piramal Enterprises and Ramky Infrastructure, which have deals with private equity firms CVC Capital, Goldman Sachs Private Equity and Carlyle respectively. Blackstone, Baring Asia and CPPIB have also submitted a bid as part of a consortium. Bain Capital and Advent International have also submitted their bids individually, according to Business Standard.

Following a shortlisting and due diligence process a final bid will be selected. A final bidder is expected to be announced by the end of June 2016. Ratings agency says LafargeHolcim to benefit from Indian infrastructure spending growth 12 April 2016 India: Government plans to increase spending on infrastructure projects will benefit LafargeHolcim according to Moody's Investor Service. The second largest cement producer in India will gain from uneven regional demand, with a much larger scale and more prominent operations in northern India, where it sells almost 42% of its local cement volume. LafargeHolcim and other European cement manufacturers with a presence in India are likely to benefit if the Indian government's plans to ramp up infrastructure spending happen in the next 12 to 18 months. The 2016 Union Budget contained plans to hike public infrastructure spending, especially on roads, which could revive stagnant cement demand in the country. According to the government's 12th Five Year Plan (2012 - 17) investment in infrastructure should increase from 7.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014 to 9% in 2017.

However, cement demand for government-funded projects has been weak in the last four years with many construction schemes delayed or put on hold. As a result, while infrastructure investment will be a key growth driver, the timing of such investment remains uncertain. However, Moody’s also noted that European multinational cement producers based in the south of the country with limited geographical spread would be more exposed to local overcapacity in this region. This included HeidelbergCement, Italcementi and CRH. HeidelbergCement to use Italcementi presence in Thailand for future expansion 11 April 2016 Thailand: Thailand will continue to be Italcementi Group's production base in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and as its springboard for expanding into Myanmar after HeidelbergCement acquires a 45% stake in the company in July 2016. Carlo Pesenti, the chief executive officer of Italcementi, made the comments about the future direction of the business in an interview with the Nation newspaper.

"HeidelbergCement, which will be the major shareholder of Italcementi when the deal is complete this July, has a policy to maintain the business in Thailand and its business plan to expand into Myanmar, because HeidelbergCement does not have a presence in Thailand,” said Pesenti. “Thailand is our production hub and business arm for expanding in ASEAN." Italcementi Group holds a 49% stake of Asia Cement in Thailand. Asia Cement and its subsidiary Jalaprathan Cement have cement production capacity of 5Mt/yr. Asia Cement has set aside an investment budget of up to US$14m to maintain its three clinker and cement plants in Thailand. However, the company it waiting for the acquisition of Italcementi by HeidelbergCement before it can decide about expansion plans in Cambodia and other territories. Norcem signs record contract for 280,000t of cement 08 April 2016 Norway: Norcem, the Norwegian subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, and Acciona Ghella JV have signed an agreement for the cement supplies to the Follo Line Project in Oslo.

The supply of 280,000t of cement over a three-year period is Norcem’s largest contract ever. “This is a milestone for HeidelbergCement in Norway and will put great demands on both production and logistics,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. “Our subsidiary Norcem made the best offer and it has the necessary production capacities and logistics to supply the required volumes to this outstanding project in Norway.” The cement supplies will start in mid to late April 2016. The Follo Line Project is currently the largest transport project in Norway and includes the country’s longest double track railway tunnel at 20 km. The new railway track runs between Oslo Central Station and the new station in the municipality of Ski in the Follo district, south of Oslo. It will enable a 50% reduction in journey time between Oslo and Ski.The project is scheduled to be finalised at the end of 2021. HeidelbergCement announces the integration plan for Italcementi 06 April 2016 Germany/Italy: HeidelbergCement has released details on how it will integrate Italcementi into its business.

Key details of the plan include the sale of Italcementi’s Belgium operations, the retention of the Italcementi brand and headquarters and the Italian cement producer’s i.Lab centre will assume research and development responsibilities for the entire group. However the acquisition is expected to result in up to 260 job losses at Italcementi’s base in Bergamo. The full integration plan is expected to be complete by 2020. “Following our motto ‘all business is local’, it is important for us to preserve Italcementi's strengths and professional expertise, which have ensured its success in Italy and abroad. I am convinced that we will be able to achieve the planned Euro400m in synergies and bring Italcementi back to profits by operational improvements, streamlining the administration and leveraging the increased size of our combined business,” said Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. The acquisition still depends on approval from the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. On 1 April 2016, HeidelbergCement formally submitted the merger plan to the European Commission.

To this end, HeidelbergCement has decided to sell Italcementi’s entire Belgian operations, primarily consisting of Italcementi’s Belgian subsidiary Compagnie des Ciments Belges. The proposed divestment would remove all overlaps between the activities of HeidelbergCement and Italcementi in Belgium and the Netherlands. Preparations forthe divestment have already started and ‘significant’ interest has been noted. BNP Paribas will support the process. The plan presented in Bergamo by Scheifele says it intends to keep the industrial network and plants in Italy as well as the Italcementi brand. In addition, HeidelbergCement builds on Italian management heading the Group's operations in Italy. i.Lab, based in Bergamo, where Italcementi will keep the headquarter of Italian country organisation, will become the home of the product research and development division of the whole group. In order to streamline the overall group organisation some staff and administrative functions will be centralised in Heidelberg. According to the integration plan around 170 people will receive relocation offers to other offices within the group.

Any redundancies in Bergamo, which could potentially affect between 230 and 260 people, will be handled using Italy's temporary layoff scheme. In addition, severence packages will be negotiated with the unions. At the end of the transition period in 2020, about 210 to 250 professionals will remain in Bergamo. HeidelbergCement expects the closing of the acquisition of the 45% stake to be finalised in early July 2016 depending on the decision of the cartel authorities in Europe and the USA. Implementation of the integration plan will start after the closing. Indocement acquires marine transport firm for US$2.1m 05 April 2016 Indonesia: Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa has purchased stakes in marine transport services firm Lintas Bahana Abadi through the company's subsidiaries, Bahana Indonor and Indomix Perkasa. The acquisition is expected to support Indocement's business activities, particularly in the marine transport segment, according to Indonesia Finance Daily.

“Bangun Sukses Niagatama Nusantara will divest its shares in Lintas Bahana Abadi to Bahana Indonor and Indomix Perkasa for US$2.1m. The acquisition is fully funded from the two subsidiaries' internal cash,” said Christian Kartawijaya, President Director of Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa. Lintas Bahana will become a subsidiary that is indirectly owned by Indocement. Lafarge and Holcim plan divestments for merging the groups | Industrial Minerals Lafarge and Holcim plan divestments for merging the groups By Antonio Torrisi Published: Monday, 07 July 2014 The merger plan between both cement producers will be implemented through a series of divestments by the two companies as requested by regulatory authorities, which will mean potential acquisitions will be available for rival cement producers. The world’s leading cement and limestone producers, France-based Lafarge SA and Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd, have planned a series of divestments in order to create a merger group, LafargeHolcim .

The two companies have set up divestment committees which propose a list of divestments in equal proportion, mainly among their European... This is a preview of the full article 2 years pricing data on all minerals The latest global news and features Print magazine Article archive ranging from 1988 Access on the move with IM Insight mobile app Take a Trial or Subscription today. Start below: Deals of the Year 2014: Lafarge and Holcim Pour It On | Institutional Investor December 10, 2014 Deals of the Year 2014: Lafarge and Holcim Pour It On To seal their planned merger, the world’s top two cement producers must quell antitrust concerns by disposing of assets. By Craig Mellow Photo credit: Martin Leissl/Bloomberg The biggest have agreed to get much bigger in the global cement market, but first they need to get smaller to satisfy regulators. That is the conundrum facing Bruno Lafont, CEO of top cement producer Lafarge, as he looks to consummate the $40.6 billion merger with No. 2 Holcim announced in April.

The two companies bill the transaction as a merger of equals involving a one-for-one swap of Lafarge stock into Holcim shares and dual management from Lafarges Paris headquarters and Holcims hometown of Jona, Switzerland. The 58-year-old Lafont, who joined Lafarges finance department after graduating from Frances École nationale dadministration in 1983 and worked his way up the corporate ladder, would hang on to the CEOs job, under incoming Holcim chairman Wolfgang Reitzle. That is if European Union regulators allow the transaction to close in early 2015, as both companies hope. A combined Lafarge-Holcim would generate some 32 billion ($40 billion) in annual sales and churn out four times as much product as its nearest global competitor, Germanys Heidelberg­Cement. The deal creates a group that is very diversified, where no single country accounts for more than 10 percent of the business and where 60 percent of revenue comes from emerging markets , says Michael Zaoui, the London-based partner at rising European investment banking star Zaoui & Co.

, which, along with Roth­schild, advised Lafarge. The two companies promise 1.4 billion in annual cost savings once they combine operations. Lafont, who took the chief executives chair at Lafarge in 2006, kicked off his tenure with a sharp tilt toward emerging markets: the 10.2 billion acquisition of Egypts Orascom Construction Industries cement group, announced in late 2007. Zaoui, who worked for Morgan Stanley at the time, advised on that deal too. Lafont has steadily invested in his companys Chinese joint venture with local partner Shui On Construction and Materials despite signs of overcapacity as Chinas building explosion cools. He also doubled down on the U.S. early on, buying out minority shareholders in Lafarge North America. A combination with Holcim would fill some important gaps around the world for Lafarge, most importantly in India, but the two companies overlap on their home turf in Europe is too big to pass antitrust muster.

So Lafont and his outgoing Holcim counterpart, Bernard Fontana, are currently overseeing the disposal of as much as 7 billion in assets, two thirds of it on the home continent. Despite the tepid economic outlook in Europe and globally, Holcim and Lafarge have received some 60 bids for all or part of the cast-off subsidiaries, according to Holcim CFO Thomas Aebischer, who is slated to stay on with the combined group. The European Commission has set December 15 as a deadline for approving the deal or sending it back for further scrutiny. Zaoui  whose firm will share in an estimated $116 million in total fees, along with Rothschild and Holcim adviser Goldman Sachs Group  says the two companies arent working to such a fixed schedule but hope to gain approval and close in the first quarter of 2015. Competition watchdogs in Canada and Brazil, among other places, are also probing the megamerger. Investors have yet to get excited about Lafonts bold stroke.

Lafarge shares are basically flat since news of the proposed merger began to seep out in early April, a trend that mirrors the Euro Stoxx 50 Index. But Lafarges boss intends to be ideally positioned for the next global construction boom, if it ever comes. Top 10 Deals of 2014 Shree Cement India Cement Market and Facilities General Information Lafarge, Holcim, Italcementi and Heidelberg collectively have approximately 1/4 of the Indian market. Lafarge, which acquired the cement unit of Tata Steel in 1999 and bought units of Larsen & Toubro in 2008, has a cement making capacity of 6.5 million tonnes. It runs four unitsï¿½two in Chhattisgarh and one each in Jharkhand and West Bengal. It plans to add 2.5 million tonne through new units in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Meghalaya for investment of over Rs 4,600 crore. Swiss cement major Holcim, which owns ACC and Ambuja Cements, plans to pump in over $1 billion to scale up capacity by 10 million tonnes to 60 million tonnes.

Vicat set up a cement plant in India two years ago in association with Sagar Cements. Vicat holds the majority stake in the venture which is setting up a 5.5 million tonne plant at Gulbarga in Karnataka. The cement industry in India has added a whopping 50 million tonnes capacity in just a little over three years, taking the total installed capacity to 240 million tonnes till last fiscal. The Indian cement industry comprises of nearly 70 large and small plants. Globally, India is the second-largest cement maker after China which produces 1,400 mt a year. Many cement producers in India have captive power plants to assure they will be able to meet their power needs. Aditya Birla Group $24.5 billion Aditya Birla Group is Indiaï¿½s largest cement maker. 2010 Aditya Birla intends to acquire a 51% stake in Dubai-based Star Cement Co. Llc for an undisclosed sum. Star Cement owns cement plants in Dubai, Sudan, Bangladesh and Bahrain with a total capacity of 3.8 million tonnes. It is a part of ETA group.

The Aditya Birla Group will acquire majority control of the Dubai-based company through its cement company UltraTech Cement Ltd. With this acquisition, the Indian conglomerate will exploit the blooming markets in Bangladesh, Bahrain and Sudan. The company plans to take clinker from India and grind it into the building material to sell in the UAE market. The Birla group has plans to invest up to Rs16,000 crore in the cement business over the next five years to add 25 million tonnes of capacity and maintain its current market share of 19%. The group will also merge its two subsidiaries UltraTech and Samruddhi, to emerge as the largest cement producer in India, with 49 million tonnes in capacity. ACC Limited (previously called ï¿½The Associated Cement Companies Limitedï¿½) is Indiaï¿½s largest manufacturer of cement and concrete. Operations include: 14 manufacturing facilities, 39 ready-mix facilities, sales offices, and distribution network including more than 9000 dealers. ACC claims that each cement plant has state-of-the art pollution control systems.

The Wadi Cement plants in Karnataka India include the worldï¿½s largest cement kiln commissioned in 2001. It is a fully integrated cement manufacturing facility with independent mines and a captive power plant. Power from the Wadi plant is transferred through the grid to other ACC facilities. An expansion of the facility in Thondebhavi, also in Karnataka, will increase capacity by 3 million tonnes per annum to 8.8 million tonnes. T Thondebhavi Cement Works (Ready-Mix) includes a cement grinding plant with a capacity of 1.60 Million Tonnes per annum to produce Fly-ash based Portland Pozzolana Cement. (Clinker is supplied from Wadi and stored in a concrete silo that has a capacity of 1 lakh tonnes) The Thondebhavi plant will have its own railway siding. The new plant will be the nearest cement plant to the fast growing city of Bengaluru. Thondebhavi Cement plant uses a Loesche (Germany) grinder. According to ACC the Thondebhavi facility is designed to demonstrate the deep commitment of its parent organization to the cause of sustainable development and to protecting the environment.

"The cement manufacturing process involved here does not generate any waste water or effluent. Nor is any other solid waste generated. Water used in the process is recycled and reused while waste water generated from domestic usage in the plant will pass through soak pits to the ground water table. We have also taken initiatives to provide for Rain Water Harvesting. All this makes this plant a ï¿½Zero Discharge Zero Solid Waste Plantï¿½." "The plant is equipped with sophisticated air pollution control systems to stop dust and fugitive emissions comprising a 14 module Bag house, Dust suppuration systems and dust collectors installed at all transfer points." Bargarh Facility Has 15MW (plus 90MW) captive power plants. Power production exceeds plant needs by approx 6.5%. Excess power is sold on the market and represents a substantial income to ACC. They produce 26M tonnes per year and expect to add 4.5M tonnes to yearly capacity in 2010. Holcim-Lafarge leftovers enticing to Heidelberg to CRH - Livemint Last Modified: Mon, Apr 21 2014.

09 03 PM IST Holcim-Lafarge leftovers enticing to Heidelberg to CRH The assets up for grabs represent about $1 bn of profits that Holcim and Lafarge may siphon off to satisfy antitrust regulators in a handful of countries Subscribe to our newsletter. To continue reading, we request you to support us by disabling your Ad Blocker OR by signing up In order to serve content on our website, we rely on advertising revenue which helps us to ensure that we continue to serve high quality, unbiased journalism. To learn how to disable your Ad Blocker, please click here x Steps to disable Ad Blocker on your browser In order to serve content on our website, we rely on advertising revenue which helps us ensure that we continue to serve high quality, unbiased journalism. From our end, we will aim to show clean and unobtrusive ads to provide you with a great browsing experience. Please follow the steps below, and once done, please refresh your page.

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Slide button to the left to disable. Return to your Safari browser and refresh the page or click Refresh, to access LiveMint.com Internet Explorer Click on the AdBlock Plus icon on the bottom right hand side of your browser A drop-down menu will appear Click the Disable on LiveMint.com option on the drop down Refresh the page or click Refresh, to access LiveMint.com iOS 9 and above Go to the Settings app on the main screen Click on the Safari button From Menu click Content Blockers You will see your blocker enabled. Slide button to the left to disable Return to the Safari browser and refresh the page or click Refresh, to access LiveMint.com Please refresh your page, once Ad Blocker is disabled OR Tara Lachapelle The Holcim-Lafarge deal terms include swapping one Holcim share for one Lafarge share, valuing the transaction at about €29 billion ($40 billion) last week, including net debt. Photo: Mint New York: Once Holcim Ltd. and Lafarge SA start shedding assets across the world to complete their $40 billion merger, cement producers from Europe to the US are likely to start lining up with offers.

The assets up for grabs represent about $1 billion of profits that Holcim and Lafarge, the cement industry’s two biggest companies, may siphon off to satisfy antitrust regulators in a handful of countries. While two-thirds of the asset disposals will be in Europe, analysts predict some of the cement plants and construction-aggregates businesses in the US and Canada will also be divested. Likely bidders for the North American cement plants may include Europe’s HeidelbergCement AG and Titan Cement Co. , as well as Mexico’s Cemex SAB , according to Susquehanna International Group LLP. CRH Plc , an Irish company that gets half its sales from the US, is another logical suitor, said Thompson Research Group. For the aggregates, which are crushed rock, gravel and sand, potential buyers are Vulcan Materials Co. and Martin Marietta Materials Inc. , as well as private-equity firms, depending on which cities the assets are in, the analysts said.

“Some of these are prime assets that don’t come up for sale very often, so pretty much anybody involved in the industry will be thinking about whether to pick them up,” Ian Osburn , a London-based analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald LP, said in a phone interview. “The bidding will be competitive. This merger is potentially a game-changer, so it’s going to focus a lot of minds on what the industry is going to look like.” $1.1 Billion Jona, Switzerland-based Holcim and Paris-based Lafarge confirmed their merger plans earlier this month after Bloomberg News first reported the discussions. The deal terms include swapping one Holcim share for one Lafarge share, valuing the transaction at about €29 billion ($40 billion) last week, including net debt. In anticipation of regulators’ scrutiny, the companies plan to divest 10% to 15% of their combined earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which Holcim said is equivalent to about $1 billion.

Besides selling assets in Europe, where the companies are based, disposals also may take place in Canada, the US, Brazil, India and China, said Lafarge chief executive officer (CEO) Bruno Lafont , who will lead the merged entity. All of the divestitures may be valued at €7 billion ($9.7 billion), or about 8 times Ebitda, Harry Goad , a London- based analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG, estimated in an 10 April report. Good Opportunity A representative for Holcim declined to comment on the asset disposals and referred to remarks made by Holcim and Lafarge executives when the deal was announced. “All our assets are high-quality assets, run by highly skilled teams,” Lafont said on an 7 April conference call with analysts. “This divestment plan represents a very good opportunity for potential buyers.” Representatives for Cemex, Titan, CRH and Martin Marietta didn’t respond to requests for comment. A representative for Vulcan declined to comment. In the US, Lafarge and Holcim have the third- and fourth- biggest shares of the cement market, respectively, with about 27% combined, according to IBISWorld Inc.

The merged entity would overtake Cemex, which was previously No. 1 with 21% of the US market. HeidelbergCement is No. 2, while Texas Industries Inc. has a 5.3% share and is being acquired by aggregates-maker Martin Marietta. That deal makes Martin Marietta the fifth-largest cement producer. Regulatory Scrutiny “If you look at where their overlap is going to be greatest, it’s the cement part of the business,” Ted Grace, a Boston-based analyst at Susquehanna, said in a phone interview. “That’s where the greatest scrutiny will be.” Almost 16% of Holcim’s revenue was generated from North America last year, while 21% of Lafarge’s sales came from the region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Holcim’s cement plant in Michigan and Lafarge’s plant in Ohio are among those that may need to be sold, according to Kathryn Thompson , CEO of Thompson Research in Nashville, Tennessee, and an analyst covering building materials. Dublin-based CRH, the third-biggest producer of both aggregates and ready-mixed concrete in the US, has operations in those states and is a logical buyer, she said.

HeidelbergCement and Cemex are among other possible bidders, Grace of Susquehanna said. Other large companies in the industry that may take an interest are Titan Cement in Athens, and Buzzi Unicem SpA in Casale Monferrato, Italy, he said. Too Big Some may be blocked from purchasing those assets, said Elizabeth Collins, a Chicago-based analyst at Morningstar Inc. “The issue is that in the US, HeidelbergCement and Cemex are as large—if not larger—than Lafarge and Holcim,” Collins said in a phone interview. “So they may be limited in what they can actually buy.” HeidelbergCement spokesman Andreas Schaller declined to comment beyond CEO Bernd Scheifele ’s 17 April statement that while there were expansion possibilities, the world’s third-largest cement maker would not do any crazy deals at crazy multiples. Mariangiola Fiore , a spokeswoman for Buzzi Unicem, declined to comment, saying the company is waiting until the terms of the disposals are clearly defined.

Shares of HeidelbergCement dropped 0.4% to €61.75 at 3:53 pm in Frankfurt, while Titan Cement rallied 8.7% and CRH fell 0.5%. American depositary receipts of Cemex rose 0.3% to $12.88, and Martin Marietta climbed 0.7% to $126.41. Old Plant Lafarge has a plant in New York that may be part of the disposals, though it is old and will require substantial spending to meet new environmental regulations, Thompson said. “They’ll either have to sell it at a huge discount or shut it down,” she said in a phone interview. Besides cement, Lafarge and Holcim also produce aggregates used to manufacture concrete and asphalt. The aggregates businesses also may attract Vulcan, Martin Marietta, Blackstone Group LP-backed Summit Materials, private-equity firms and closely held companies, Grace said. Interest will come down to whether the aggregates assets are in fast- growing cities and near buyers’ existing operations, he said. Peter Rose , a spokesman for New York-based Blackstone, declined to comment on whether it’s an interested buyer.

Forced Sellers The bidders are in the driver’s seat, according to Goad of Credit Suisse. That means Holcim and Lafarge may be viewed as forced sellers, so they won’t get to be as picky about the sale prices, Goad wrote in his note. They will probably be able to fetch better valuations for their US assets than the European ones because Europe’s housing and construction markets aren’t rebounding as quickly, Osburn of Cantor Fitzgerald said. “The key question for me is, what sort of prices will they get in Europe?” he said. “That’s where the real challenge is. The deal will be made or broken based on that. It may take some tough decisions in Europe.” Bloomberg Alex Webb in Munich also contributed to this story. Holcim looked at HeidelbergCement before Lafarge deal: newspaper | Reuters Sun Apr 5, 2015 | 9:51 AM EDT Holcim looked at HeidelbergCement before Lafarge deal: newspaper The logo of Swiss cement maker Holcim is seen on a railway-car in the town of Schlieren near Zurich April 1, 2015.

Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann ZURICH Holcim HOLN.VX looked at buying Germany's HeidelbergCement (HEIG.DE) towards the end of 2013 before agreeing to merge with France's Lafarge LAFP.PA, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday, citing two sources. Then-Holcim chairman Rolf Soiron spoke with HeidelbergCement's biggest shareholder, Ludwig Merckle, who owns around 25 percent of HeidelbergCement shares through the family-run Spohn Cement, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported. "Right before the talks with Lafarge, Soiron discussed a merger with Heidelberg," the Swiss newspaper quoted one of the sources as saying. "Heidelberg declined it, though, because a merger among equals was not possible." A spokesman for Zurich-based Holcim declined to comment on the report. A spokesman for HeidelbergCement was not immediately available for comment. The tie-up between Holcim and Lafarge was announced in April 2014. Since then, the deal to create the world's biggest cement business has been thrown into doubt after Holcim shareholders raised objections to terms of the deal including the choice of chief executive.

Holcim and Lafarge have now agreed a new share-swap ratio that is more advantageous to Holcim investors but some investors, including Holcim's second-biggest shareholder, are still calling for improved terms. It is also not yet known who will lead the merged company after it was agreed that Lafarge boss Bruno Lafont would no longer become chief executive of the combined company. Holcim investors against the deal have set up a website laying out their arguments. Holcim shareholders will vote on the deal at a meeting on May 8. (Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich and Victoria Bryan in Berlin; editing by Jason Neely) ADVERTISEMENT

Question: Lafarge, Holcim, and Heidelberg are among the world's leading producers of?
Answer: Cement