Merger Of European Cement Giants On Track

(RTTNews) - Swiss cement producer Holcim (HCMLY.PK), on Monday said its proposed $40 billion merger with French peer Lafarge (LFGEF.PK, LFRGY.PK) is on track for completion in the first half of this year.

In April, Holcim and Lafarge agreed to merge in a bid to create the world's largest cement and crushed-rock company. The deal is subject to clearance by regulators across a host of countries and mandates Holcim and Lafarge to sell some assets.

The merger already has been approved by the European Commission, the European Union's antitrust authority, and five authorities in the U.S., Canada, India, Mauritius and Ecuador have yet to give their consent, though some of those approvals are expected in March.

On Monday, India's Financial Express reported that the Competition Commission of India has approved the merger on condition Holcim and Lafarge divest some units, including limestone reserves, to prevent a monopoly in eastern India.

Earlier this month, as part of their asset-sale commitment, Holcim and Lafarge agreed to sell 6.5 billion euros in assets to Irish cement company CRH Plc.

Holcim, which operates in about 70 countries and has nearly 71,000 employees, has annual sales of more than 16 billion euros. Lafarge, active in 64 countries with 65,000 employees, has annual sales of more than 15 billion euros.

Earlier today, Bloomberg reported Holcim Chief Financial Officer Thomas Aebischer as saying that the terms of its merger with Lafarge remain intact, even after the Swiss franc's strengthening.

Also today, Holcim said its fourth-quarter net profit rose to 355 million Swiss francs from 233 Swiss francs last year. Quarterly sales climbed to 4.87 billion francs from 4.78 billion francs a year ago.

For 2015, Holcim sees 2015 operating profit excluding merger costs in a range of 2.7 billion francs to 2.9 billion francs.