Knauf buys Lafarge division

Lafarge has sold its subsidiary North American Gypsum's assets at an enterprise value of US$700 million (€533 million) to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. Lafarge North America’s Gypsum division manufactures gypsum wallboards and joint compounds throughout a network of plants in the United States and Canada. In 2012, these operations generated sales of $310 million.

Lafarge has agreed with Boral to sell them its stake in their common Asian Gypsum joint venture LBGA (Lafarge Boral Gypsum Asia) for €429 million, which represents the enterprise value of Lafarge’s 50%-stake in the jv.

CRH says it made seven acquisition and investment initiatives during the second half of 2013. These transactions, together with the previously announced acquisition of Mykolaiv Cement in Ukraine, and the purchase of Sree Jayajothi Cements by its 50:50 joint venture, My Home Industries, in India, bring total second half spend to €0.22 billion and group development activity for 2013 to approximately €0.69 billion.

“Development spend of almost €0.7 billion in 2013 reflected our strategic focus on establishi