Binding offer for CRH’s Lafarge/Holcim acquisitions

27 May 2015

Building materials company CRH has now entered into a legally binding deal to acquire businesses being divested by Lafarge and Holcim as part of the regulatory terms of their merger.

The € 6.5 billion deal was announced in February, and is still conditional on the completion of the Lafarge Holcim merger. However, this is an important step in the process, as it makes all parties legally obliged by the terms of the deal.

CRH said the acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.

In other news, Lafarge and Holcim have announced the names of the LafargeHolcim group’s executive committee. The group will be composed of five current Holcim, executives and five Lafarge managers, one of whom is the future group CEO, Eric Olsen.

The other executive committee members from Lafarge are integration, organisation & human resources officer, Jean-Jacques Gauthier, who is currently Lafarge CFO, Saâd Sebbar, who is currently in charge of Lafarge’s Moroccan business will head-up Middle-Eastern and African businesses, Pascal Casanova, who currently runs Lafarge’s French business will be in charge of Latin America, while current Lafarge innovation officer Gérard Kuperfarb will take charge of growth & innovation at the merged group.

Meanwhile, current Holcim CFO Thomas Aebischer will be CFO of the merged group, head of Holcim’s European operations Roland Köhler will take charge of Europe for the new entity, Asia Pacific will be handled by current head of East Asia Pacific and trading at Holcim, Ian Thackwray, North American markets will be handled by Alain Bourguignon, who was previously in charge of North America and UK at Holcim, while the performance and cost role will be taken by Urs Bleisch, who is currently in charge of corporate functions at Holcim.