Indian billionaire joins race for assets sought by CRH

Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, owner of India's biggest cement maker, is among bidders weighing offers for all the assets being sold by Holcim and Lafarge as they merge, sources said.

Other bidders are said to include Irish heavyweight CRH, which has joined with Mexico's Cemex in the process.

Companies controlled by Mr Birla, including UltraTech Cement , are considering submitting a bid by next week’s deadline for all the assets and then divesting some after completing a deal, one source said.

Mr Birla is particularly interested in the Latin American operations, two sources said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private.

The two cement producers are selling units with an enterprise value of €5 billion to €7 billion, as they seek antitrust backing for a planned $40 billion merger.

Lafarge chief executive Bruno Lafont said last week that some bidders may seek to snap up all assets that are for sale, which include businesses in Canada, the US, Brazil, India and China.

Birla is competing against several cement companies and private-equity firms in the bidding for all or parts of the business.

Germany's HeidelbergCement has teamed up with Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil, Cemex of Mexico is working with CRH and Eurocement Holding , controlled by billionaire Filaret Galchev, is considering a bid, the sources said.

Mr Birla, 47, is directly overseeing the bid preparations, according to one of the sources.

Lafarge and Holcim have had 100 expressions of interest for the units for sale and “will probably have a lot of firm bids,” Mr Lafont said last week.

While Mr Birla’s companies aren’t interested in Holcim and Lafarge assets in developed markets such as the US and Europe, they are aware that a piecemeal offer has a lower chance of succeeding, sources said.

- Bloomberg