Ireland: CRH CEO Albert Manifold has said that the company will now take a pause from large-scale acquisitions following the completion of its US$7.3bn acquisition of various Lafarge and Holcim assets and its recent US$1.3bn acquisition of glazing products producer C R Laurence. Manifold was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that significant acquisitions going forward are 'unlikely,' and that the company will focus on integrating its two big acquisitions over the next 12 - 18 months.
CRH had previously been linked with two other large-scale cement industry acquisitions. In India, it was in the running to acquire 5Mt/yr of Lafarge assets that have since been sold to Birla Group. Meanwhile, in South Korea CRH had been linked with the wholesale acquisition of Tongyang Cement & Energy. Due to Manifold's announcement, it appears that the South Korean deal is no longer on the table.