Cement Roadstone Holdings unlikely to bid for assets from LafargeHolcim

CRH is not expected to buy further assets to be disposed of by European cement giant LafargeHolcim.

The Dublin-based international building materials giant undertook its largest transaction to date, last year, when agreeing the €6.5bn takeover of numerous assets that needed to be sold to facilitate the merger of the French and Swiss giants.

LafargeHolcim last week said it had made significant progress on its CHF3.5bn (€3.2bn) disposal target.

That programme is reportedly set to cover a 50% stake in Cement Australia, Lafarge India in its entirety, and assets in Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

CRH has been mentioned as a potential bidder for some assets, but is not expected to feature.

“Given its financial strength, CRH will inevitably be linked with any deal in the space. Debt paydown, however, remains management’s priority,” said Davy Stockbrokers’ Robert Gardiner.

CRH spent around €8bn last year.

Management recently said while it is unlikely to repeat that kind of outlay this year, 2016 will still see further acquisitions undertaken.

Davy has also dismissed suggestions that CRH’s statement that it is still finalising post-completion consideration regarding last year’s mega-transaction, means it is haggling for a cheaper price.

“We suspect this is an exercise common to large transactions, whereby small changes are sought by the acquirer post-completion,” said Mr Gardiner.

He said any price renegotiation would be at odds with CRH’s comments about the high quality of the businesses acquired.