Thailand’s Siam City Cement to acquire Sri Lanka’s Holcim for USD400 Mln

July 25, 2016 (LBO) - Thailand's Siam City Cement Public Company Limited will proceed with an acquisition of 98.95 percent shares in Holcim (Lanka) Limited, including its subsidiaries from cement giant LafargeHolcim.

LafargeHolcim said in a statement that the enterprise value of sale was 400 million dollars. In a Thailand Stock Exchange filing, Siam City Cement said that the acquisition of the interest, comprising 164,065,201 ordinary shares, in HLL will be made by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, INSEE Cement Holdings Company Limited, which is under the process of being incorporated. The Company expects that the completion of the transaction will occur within two weeks following the date of the Agreement, while LafargeHolcim said the transaction would be completed in the third quarter. Holcim Lanka operates one integrated plant and one grinding plant and is the country's leading cement manufacturer. The proceeds from the sale of the divestment business will be used to further reduce debt, LafargeHolcim said. Earlier this month, LarfargeHolcim announced the divestment of Lafarge India to Nirma Limited. The latest sales is a step for LafargeHolcim to reach its 3.5 billion Swiss francs divestment target for 2016. The Group has now secured three-quarters of the program. With a presence in 90 countries and a focus on cement, aggregates and concrete, LafargeHolcim is the world leader in the building materials industry with 100,000 employees around the world and combined net sales of CHF 29.5 billion (USD 29.8 billion) in 2015. Siam City Cement was first established in 1969 and began cement production after the completion of its cement plant in 1972, then became a listed company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 1977. The company embarked on an expansion strategy and has operations currently in Indonesia, Cambodia and Bangladesh outside of Thailand. Mexican building materials company CEMEX, S.

A.B. de C.V. said in May that it has closed the sale of its operations in Bangladesh and Thailand to Siam City Cement for approximately 53 million dollars. Siam City Cement group company has approximately 4,000 employees. It is engaged in the business of Cement, Ready-mixed Concrete and Aggregates, Fibre Cement based building and decorative materials, Autoclaved Aerated Concrete products as Lightweight Concrete, Environmentally-friendly Waste Management Solutions, Power generation from cement production process, Information technology and digitalization business services.