Oyak, the largest cement producer in Turkey, is interested in Holcim and Lafarge businesses in countries including Romania, Serbia and Hungary, Celal Caglar, head of the cement and automotive unit of the Ankara-based company, said in an e-mailed statement.
“We are interested in bidding as Oyak or together with a European group” for assets, Caglar said, quoted by businessweek.com. Oyak has USD 2 billion in cash for acquisitions and can leverage it more than five times if needed, he said. “We are closely following this sale process.”
Holcim and Lafarge need to sell units to gain regulatory approval for their planned merger to form the biggest cement company. In Europe, where the largest part of their cement and crushed-rock divestments will take place, regulators have set a December 15 deadline to either approve the deal or open a deeper investigation.
The Turkish cement producer has just completed the purchase of Denizli Cimento from CRH Plc and Eren Holding AS for a price between USD 400 million and USD 450 million on November 10.
Besides selling assets in Europe, the Turkish investor plans disposals from Canada to Brazil. Oyak has a cement production capacity in Turkey of 20.1 million tons a year, or 19 percent of the country’s total, through its six plants including Denizli.
Potential buyers for Holcim and Lafarge assets include private-equity-led groups including Blackstone Group LP with Cinven Ltd. and Canada Pension Plan; BC Partners Holdings Ltd. with Advent International Corp.; Bain Capital LLC with Onex Corp.; as well as CVC Capital Partners Ltd. with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, people familiar with the matter have previously said.