CRH submits bid for India assets

CRH has reportedly submitted a binding bid for the Indian assets of the newly formed LafargeHolcim.

The Dublin-based concrete and cement group is already paying €6.5bn for certain assets in the Americas, Europe and Asia that needed to be offloaded in order to allow for the Franco-Swiss mega merger. That transaction, which will make CRH the third largest building materials business in the world, is set to formally conclude by the end of this month; although it will take slightly longer to finalise the takeover of the Asian assets.

However, fresh reports from India have suggested CRH, German player, HeidelbergCement and Barings Private Equity (Asia) have submitted bids for disposable LafargeHolcim assets in India. CRH, which has been linked to a number of international transactions in recent weeks and months, made no comment on the speculation. However, the reports suggest a price of between $600m and $800m (roughly €550m-€740m).

The LafargeHolcim merger gained clearance to merge, locally from the Competition Commission of India on the basis of certain divestments being completed. According to the reports, the package of relevant assets has been agreed with the CCI and they include Lafarge’s Sonadih cement plant and the Jojobera grinding station in the east of the country.

CRH’s management recently stated that its acquisition pipeline is currently stronger than it has been for some time and the group’s total investment spend for 2015 is expected to be between €7bn and €8bn, with the bulk of this going towards the original LafargeHolcim asset deal.