PARIS/ZURICH: Holcim of Switzerland unveiled a deal to buy France’s Lafarge on Monday to create the world’s biggest cement maker, with $44 billion of annual sales and nearly $60-billion market value.
It will launch asset sales worldwide to steer it over antitrust hurdles. Lafarge shareholders will receive one Holcim share for every Lafarge held and Holcim investors end up with 53% of the new group.