BERN: The cement industry giants Holcim of Switzerland and Lafarge of France reached an agreement of CHF40 billion ($40.5 billion) merger. In a joint statement issued from Zurich and Paris, both parties said they had agreed on a new exchange ratio of nine Holcim shares for ten Lafarge shares. Originally the “merger of equals” was meant to be based on a 1-to-1 exchange of shares but Holcim had largely outperformed Lafarge since the plan was first announced last April.
The Swiss National Bank’s decision in January to stop defending the franc complicated matters further, when the proposed 1-to-1 ratio began to weigh more heavily in favour of Lafarge shareholders as the franc strengthened against the euro.
Plans to create a mega cement, concrete and aggregates company, with projected combined sales of more than CHF40 billion were also stalled by a disagreement over who would lead the new combined group.
In total, 604 M&A deals were put on the table in 2014 with a combined value of CHF175.8 billion. This compares to 580 deals in 2013 valued at just CHF20.8 billion, according to Ernst & Young.
