A number of firms are considering a bid for the assets that Lafarge and Holcim must sell in order to remain ahead of competition, say two sources aware of the situation in an article on Reuters.
In addition to this, four sets of private equity firms are interested in bidding on the entire portfolio, with bids valued from 5 to 7 billion euros, the sources add.
The four sets of companies include Blackstone, Cinven and Canadian pension fund CPP; Advent and BC Partners; CVC and three other limited partners; and Bain, Onex and another limited partner.
According to the article, the Larfarge-Holcim merger would create the world’s top cement group with $44 billion in yearly sales, which would reduce costs and debt.
Because the duo wants to sell assets for Holcim’s French activities, Lafarge’s German ones and other operations in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Britain, Canada, the Philippines, Mauritius and Brazil, competition regulators throughout 15 different countries are considering the bids. The companies now hold a combined stock market value of more than $55 billion, says Reuters.
The articles states that Bernard Fontana, CEO of Holcim, told reporters that the companies have received more than 100 expressions of interest for the assets, with many vying for the entire portfolio.
