Holcim and Lafarge sell assets, buyers sought in Serbia as well

Cement manufacturers Holcim from Switzerland and Lafarge from France, whose merger is pending approval from regulatory bodies, must sell about EUR 5 billion worth of assets in order to get aforementioned green light, the two companies announced in a release on Monday.

The merger would create the world's largest cement maker with an annual turnover of about USD 44 billion, while companies must sell EUR 5 billion worth of assets, Reuters has reported.

The companies said they would seek buyers for operations in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Britain, Canada, the Philippines, Mauritius and Brazil.

Competition regulators in some 15 countries, as well as the European Commission, are expected to take a hard look at the deal, which brings together the world's top two cement makers with a combined stock market value of more than $55 billion.

The world's two biggest cement makers, Lafarge and Holcim, announced their intention to merge operations in April 2014. The transaction will be carried out through a stock swap.

Both cement makers have their factories in Serbia as well. Holcim acquired the cement plant in Novi Popovac near Paracin in 2002, while Lafarge bought the Beocin cement plant the same year.