Cement groups Holcim and Lafarge seek to renegotiate €41bn merger

Holcim and Lafarge, Europe's two biggest cement groups by sales, are in talks to renegotiate the terms of their €41 billion merger after a divergence in the value of the two companies over the past year.

The two sides are holding discussions that might result in changes to the terms of the one-for-one share deal announced last April, said people familiar with the matter.

It in unclear at this stage how the renegotiation might affect CRH, which agreed in February to pay €6.5 billion for assets being sold by the two companies as they sought to address potential competition concerns over the deal. CRH made no comment last night.

The Holcim/Lafarge combination would create a cement and crushed rock powerhouse in many of the largest markets, with revenues of €40 billion annually but a reduced European presence.

In recent weeks, however, Holcim shareholders have raised concerns over the terms of the deal.

A representative for the Schmidheiny family, which founded Holcim and is its largest investor with a fifth of the shares, told Reuters on Monday: “The industrial logic of the deal is undisputed.” He did not comment on the price.

The remarks came after a SonntagsZeitung report at the weekend said that Thomas Schmidheiny, head of the family and a former Holcim chairman, wanted the terms of the deal renegotiated.

Holcim’s second largest shareholder, Eurocement, which is owned by Russian Filaret Galchev and holds 10 per cent of the shares, has not publicly supported the deal. Eurocement declined to comment. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015