Irish cement maker CRH has agreed to pay $7.4 billion for the Lafarge and Holcim assets, says an article on Reuters. This purchase will make CRH the world’s third-largest building materials supplier and the largest building supplier in central and eastern Europe, the article reports.
CRH beat a consortium led by Blackstone for the assets, says Reuters. In addition, CRH says the assets will add 15,000 employees across 11 countries to its workforce.
According to the article, for CRH, the deal follows a breakneck expansion in the years before the financial crisis that CEO Albert Manifold brought to a halt by putting 20 percent of net assets up for sale. Manifold said this purchase aligned well with CRH’s operations.
“This is just one that’s too good to turn down,” he said. “What this really does is it creates an opportunity for a whole new wave of acquisitions for the next decade.”
The article says shares in CRH were up 5.4 percent, shares in Holcim rose 1.7 percent and shares in Lafarge were up .5 percent.
CRH will fund the purchase with 2 billion euros of cash, new debt and a 9.99 percent equity placing, says Reuters.
