Holcim’s plans to be unveiled

Bernard Fontana, Holcim's new chief executive officer, will have to restructure the cement maker's business in Europe where additional plants will have to be closed, cut costs, and expand the company's business in emerging markets, SonntagsZeitung said, citing criteria set for him by the board of directors.

Holcim, the world’s largest cement maker, is considering disposals as chief executive officer Bernard Fontana deals with a greater-than-expected slowdown in Europe. The group, based in Jona, Switzerland, may also consider swapping some assets with competitors given market conditions, Fontana said in an interview. “There are things cooking,” Fontana told journalists at a press conference in Zurich. Any transactions would have to be announced at the “right time,” he said.

The world’s two largest cement producers, Lafarge and Holcim, have agreed a multi-billion merger of equals in the industry's biggest ever tie-up. The merger, planned for completion in the first half of 2015 will create LafargeHolcim, “the most advanced group in the building materials industry.”