India: CRH to submit bid for Lafarge's cement business

It is reported that Ireland-based building materials company CRH will join the race to acquire 725 Lafarge's cement business in India with annual capacity of 11 million tonnes with 7.8 million tonnes of the capacity is located in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

JSW Cement, Birla Corporation as well as Blackstone might also submit bids for Lafarge's assets in India.

Lafarge has been told by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to sell its 5.15 million tonnes of cement capacity in eastern India to complete its merger with Holcim.

723 CRH has 50% stake in My Home Industries (MHIL) that has 4.8 million tonnes of annual cement output from two factories.

680 Holcim controls ACC and Ambuja Cement that have annual annual capacity of 6.1 million and 4.6 million tonnes capacity respectively in India's eastern region.

A simple merger between Holcim and Lafarge will result in both companies having 18.5 million tonnes out of 46 million tonnes of total cement capacity in India's eastern states.