CRH agrees to acquire a Lafarge Ukraine cement business

723 CRH, the international building materials group, has reached agreement to acquire 725 Lafarge-owned Mykolaiv Cement for an upfront cash consideration, including debt assumed, of €96 million.

With the addition of Mykolaiv Cement, located in the Lviv region of western Ukraine, CRH says it becomes the market leader in Ukraine, allowing it to further leverage the benefits of the new Podilsky factory.

CRH entered the Ukraine market in 1999 with the acquisition of Podilsky Cement and in 2011 commissioned a state-of-the-art dry process kiln at that facility with an annual clinker capacity of 2.3 million tonnes. Also in 2011, CRH acquired a majority stake in Odessa Cement.

This transaction, which is expected to close before year-end, is subject to relevant Ukrainian authorities' approval.

The Lafarge Group remains present in Ukraine through three aggregates quarries serving the Ukrainian as well as the Russian and Polish markets.