CRH has now completed the £5bn acquisition of assets from Lafarge and Holcim. France’s Lafarge and Holcim of Germany merged last month but had to shed assets to satisfy market competition authorities. CRH agreed a deal with them back in February. (See our previous report here.)
The transaction more than doubles CRH's cement production volumes and expands its aggregates and readymixed concrete portfolios. Employee numbers increase by 15,000 people to 91,000.
The acquired assets consist of more than 685 locations in 11 countries and include the UK cement and aggregates business formerly known as Lafarge Tarmac. Lafarge Tarmac, which also includes the old Blue Circle cement company that Lafarge bought in 2001, is now reverting to the Tarmac branding.
Tarmac CEO Cyrille Ragoucy said: “This is an exciting evolution for our business. With our new owner CRH in place to support the ongoing development and delivery of our strategic vision, we’re in an exceptionally strong position to deliver our growth ambitions and continue creating value for our customers, our shareholders and our employees.”
Also included in the £5bn deal are major operations in France and Germany as well as leading cement and aggregates companies in the growth regions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), making CRH becomes the number one heavyside building materials company in CEE.
CRH chief executive Albert Manifold said: "Today we extend a warm welcome to 15,000 new colleagues joining CRH. With their expertise and talent on board, combined with the strength of our existing employee base, CRH is a step closer to achieving our aim of becoming the world's leading building materials company. The businesses we are acquiring, which represent an excellent geographic fit with CRH's existing operations, are all strong performers in their respective areas. The integration of these high quality assets, which we have acquired at an attractive valuation and at the right point of the cycle, will strengthen our presence in a number of key markets as well as providing new platforms for strategic growth. The additional scale will help us to improve efficiency, speed up innovation and provide an even better service to our customers."
The acquired businesses are expected to generate revenue of £3.8bn this year and ebitda of £564m. Approximately two-thirds of its revenue is from Europe. Outside Europe, £750m comes from Canada and £450m comes from Brazil and the Philippines combined. The Philippines deal is the only one yet to complete; that one is expected to close in the next few weeks.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
