Worldwide: Holcim and Lafarge have announced their intention to merge the two companies. The new company, LafargeHolcim, will have a major presence in the global building materials sector with combined production sites in 90 countries across cement, concrete and aggregates sectors. Combined sales of the two companies would amount to around Euro32bn and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would be Euro6.5bn.
Lafarge and Holcim confirmed that they would sell businesses worth 10 - 15% of the group's EBITDA to satisfy antitrust concerns, worth about Euro5bn in total. Two-thirds of the asset sales would be in Europe. The companies also have overlapping business operations in Canada, Brazil, India and China.
Lafarge sold the majority of its worldwide gypsum wallboard businesses in 2011 followed by the sale of its North American gypsum wallboard assets in 2013. However it retains plants in Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.
