Brussels, 16/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 December, the European Commission gave its conditional authorisation to the planned acquisition of Lafarge (France) by Holcim (Switzerland). The two parties are manufacturers and suppliers of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates and other construction materials worldwide. The decision is conditional upon the divestment of Lafarge sites in Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom and of Holcim operations in France, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the Czech Republic.
The proposed transaction concerns assets worth several billion euros and will create the world's largest cement producer, with operations in 90 countries, the Commission stresses. Its preliminary examination showed that the entity born of the merger would have faced insufficient competitive pressure from remaining players in many markets, with the potential risk of price rises. Lafarge will divest all of its activities in Germany and Romania, and Holcim will do likewise in Slovakia and the Czech Republic and will sell most of its activities in France and a number of sites in Spain. In the United Kingdom, Lafarge will divest all of its activities through Lafarge Tarmac, a joint venture with Anglo American, with the exception of the Cauldon cement plant in Staffordshire. Holcim and Lafarge will not be permitted to conclude the transaction until the Commission has cleared all of the purchasers of the assets to be sold. (EL)