Displaying items by tag: LafargeHolcim

Europe: Following the successful completion of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge, LafargeHolcim has today started trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich with the ticker symbol LHN and on Euronext in Paris, joining the Swiss Market Index (SMI) and the CAC 40 index (replacing Lafarge SA) respectively. LafargeHolcm had a total market capitalisation of around Euro39.4bn on 13 July 2015. Representatives of LafargeHolcim's senior management will attend the start of trading ceremony in Paris.

Europe: Holcim Ltd and Lafarge SA have completed their global merger and have launched LafargeHolcim. The merger completion was dated 10 July 2015. All conditions for the completion of the merger were fulfilled following the successful completion of the public exchange offer and the issuance of new Holcim shares to Lafarge shareholders. Holcim's shareholders had previously approved the merger-related resolutions at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 8 May 2015.

With the completion of the merger, the mandate of the new board of directors and of the new executive committee with Eric Olsen as CEO has become effective. LafargeHolcim will also unveil its new logo and corporate identity. It has been designed to demonstrate that Holcim and Lafarge have united to form one company, expressing the leadership and strength of the new group.

"Today's closing is a historic event, not only for our two founding companies, but also for the industry as a whole. LafargeHolcim has a unique business portfolio, is the industry benchmark in research and devlopment and offers its customers the widest range of innovative and value-adding products, services and solutions, from smallholders to large enterprises and most complex projects," said Wolfgang Reitzle, co-chairman (statutory chairman) of the board of directors of LafargeHolcim.

"This new company is built on the rich history and culture of Lafarge and Holcim and its teams. The merger has not only resulted in a larger and more global company but brings about a unique set of complementary capabilities to capitalize on. Under the leadership of Eric Olsen, the new Group will foster a new operating model and create more value for all our stakeholders," said Bruno Lafont, co-chairman of the board of directors of LafargeHolcim.

The new LafargeHolcim shares will be traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange as well as the Euronext in Paris as of 14 July 2015. As announced, LafargeHolcim will re-open the public exchange offer to give the remaining Lafarge shareholders the opportunity to also tender their shares. The new offer period will start on 15 July 2015 for a duration of ten trading days until 28 July 2015.

Europe: The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has published the final results of the public exchange offer initiated by Holcim Ltd for the shares of Lafarge SA.

Following the settlement-delivery of the offer expected to occur on 10 July 2015, Holcim Ltd will hold 252,230,673 Lafarge SA shares, representing 87.46% of the share capital and at least 83.94% of the voting rights of Lafarge SA based on the total number of shares outstanding as of 8 July 2015. In accordance with the AMF general regulations, the offer will be re-opened during at least 10 trading days according to a timetable that will be published by the AMF.

Holcim has announced that in connection with the successful public exchange offer and the expected closing of the merger with Lafarge, Bernard Fontana will step down from his position as CEO of Holcim Ltd with the completion of the merger. He will also resign from all mandates in all Holcim Group entities.

"It has been a pleasure and honour to work with remarkable and passionate people throughout the past years at Holcim. I wish the new company LafargeHolcim and the entire team all the very best for the future," said Fontana. The board of directors has thanked Fontana for his leadership and achievements for the group, and in particular for the successful implementation of the Holcim Leadership Journey.

Andreas Leu, currently responsible for the Americas, will also leave Holcim with effect from 1 August 2015. Bernard Terver, currently responsible for Africa and the Middle East as well as South Asia, will assume the position as head of India for LafargeHolcim from the date of the closure of the merger. In this capacity he will continue his mandates in the boards of Ambuja Cements and ACC Limited in India. Holcim's board of directors and the executive committee have thanked Leu for his contributions to the success of the group and wish him all the very best for his future.

Europe: The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has published the interim results of the public exchange offer initiated by Holcim Ltd for the shares of Lafarge SA.

As of 7 July 2015, a total of 252,230,673 shares, representing 87.46% of the share capital and at least 81.47% of the voting rights of Lafarge SA, have been tendered. The success of the offer was subject to the condition that a minimum acceptance threshold of 66.6% of Lafarge's share capital or voting rights be reached by Holcim. The final results will be published by the AMF on 9 July 2015. According to the press release, the result reflects the confidence of shareholders in the future company.

The settlement-delivery of the new shares to shareholders having tendered their Lafarge SA shares is scheduled for 13 July 2015.

India: Lafarge India has appointed Ujjwal Batria as CEO of the company effective from 22 June 2015. Batria will take over the responsibility from Martin Kriegner, who has been named as area manager for Central Europe of LafargeHolcim.

The development comes shortly before the expected completion of the LafargeHolcim merger. The Indian Competition Commission of India (CCI) has already approved the Indian leg of the proposed merger, with certain provisions, including divestment of two cement plants; Lafarge's plants at Jojobera, Jharkhand and Sonadih, Chhattisgarh. The two plants have a combined capacity of 5.15Mt/yr. Holcim's business in India is run through ACC and Ambuja Cements. It is not clear what Batria's role will be in the merged LafargeHolcim entity. Since ACC and Ambuja Cements are public listed firms, Lafarge's Indian unit may continue to operate separately, at least to begin with.

Prior to his appointment as CEO of Lafarge India, Batria was managing director of the company and was managing its cement business. He has been with Lafarge for 16 years. He had joined the company in 1999 and has served on different position across functions since then.

US: According to Imperial Valley News, following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a final order settling charges that the merger of Lafarge and Holcim would likely harm competition in 12 markets for Portland cement and two markets for slag cement.

Under the order, first announced in May 2015, the two companies are required to divest cement plants, quarries, terminals and other assets in the 12 states of Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, as well as several locations in Canada. The commission vote that approved the final order was 4-1, with commissioner Joshua D Wright voting no.

India: According to the Irish Examiner, CRH is being linked with a second potential Asian deal in as many weeks, this one with a price tag of around US$1bn. A Mergermarket report has it that CRH is one of 16 likely bidders for assets in eastern India being sold by Lafarge. The disposal makes up part of the conditions related to Lafarge's merger with Holcim.

Local press stated that CRH is an 'obvious bidder' given that it already has a presence in southern India and is in the process of buying US$7.32bn of assets as part of the LafargeHolcim deal. However, Mergermarket claims CRH is vying with HeidelbergCement, among others, for the new assets and has until the end of June 2015 to complete due diligence and until 15 July 2015 to submit a binding bid.

India: As part of the implementation in India of its planned merger with Holcim, and subject to the completion of the same merger, Lafarge has signed an agreement to acquire the 14% stake held by Baring in Lafarge India for Euro270m. Following this transaction, subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities, Lafarge will hold 100% of the shares of Lafarge India.

Ireland/South Korea: CRH's investment spend for 2015 looks set to surpass Euro7bn, with the company heavily linked with a Euro800m move for the number two player in South Korea's cement market, Tongyang Cement & Energy. Tongyang Cement & Energy has a market value of nearly Euro600m. Its owner is reportedly putting a 74% stake on the market, with a Euro800m price tag being touted.

CRH's Euro6.5bn purchase of assets being offloaded as part of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge is due to conclude in August 2015. CRH is set to become the third-largest building materials business in the world on the back of that deal, but management has already suggested that it won't be the limit of its 2015 spending. CRH chief executive Albert Manifold said that the group had a 'very strong' acquisition pipeline.

CRH spent Euro45m in the first four months of 2015. Manifold said that CRH currently has a separate Euro1bn US deal under consideration and a Euro700m deal, but noted that CRH typically concludes around 10% of the deals that come onto its radar. However, if all of those deals came to pass, CRH's 2015 investments would exceed Euro8bn.

While the Euro700m deal is thought to be a European target, if the Korean deal goes ahead, it would further boost CRH's Asian presence, which is already being improved via new assets in the Philippines coming on stream via the LafargeHolcim deal. CRH said that it would repackage its Asian operations into a separate grouped entity in 2015 to cater for its growing size. The South Korean market consumes about 45Mt/yr of cement from a total production capacity of around 65Mt/yr.

Europe: Following the clearance from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) on 28 May 2015, Holcim launched the public exchange offer for all Lafarge shares at an exchange ratio of 9 Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares on 1 June 2015. Through acceptance of the public exchange offer, Lafarge shareholders will pave the way for the creation of LafargeHolcim.

The public exchange offer will be open for 25 trading days until 3 July 2015. With this public exchange offer, Lafarge and Holcim are implementing the final step of their project to merge the two companies. The merger is expected to close in July 2015.