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[September 2007]
Possible Cemex Deal for CRH
CRH has announced negotiations with Cemex which may lead to the purchase of certain assets in the USA and Europe.
The completion of any transaction would be subject to satisfactory due diligence, the approval of the respective Boards of Directors and the granting of the required regulatory approvals (including the US Department of Justice and other antitrust authorities).
The assets under negotiation include those operations in Florida and Arizona that the US Department of Justice has required Cemex to divest as a result of the acquisition of Rinker. In addition, CRH is in negotiations to acquire from Cemex some or all of the following Cemex assets in the USA: Cemex's concrete pipe business; all the company's materials and products operations in the Pacific Northwest, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, and El Paso, TX; the aggregates operations in Kentucky; Cemex's cement plants in Wampum, PA and Fairborn, OH; and its gypsum wallboard distribution business in Florida. In Europe the assets under negotiation include the San Feliu cement plant in Catalonia in Spain and Cemex's readymixed concrete and aggregates assets in Austria and Hungary.
Given the mix of Cemex and Rinker assets, and the fact that Cemex's acquisition of Rinker has only recently been completed, detailed combined financial information on a consistent basis is not yet available. Depending on the scale of businesses included in any potential deal and the outcome of due diligence, a transaction size in the range of US$3.5 billion and US$4.5 billion (€2.5 billion to €3.2 billion) is possible. CRH said it had sufficient balance sheet capacity to debt-finance any transaction that might take place.
ENDS