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The story
Foundation and development
Lafarge was founded in 1833 by Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge in Le Teil, France (Ardèche), to exploit the limestone quarry in Mont Saint-Victor between Le Teil and Viviers. The limestone is white and argillaceous, and yielded an eminently hydraulic lime. In 1864 Lafarge signed its first international contract for the delivery of 110,000 tonnes of lime to the Suez Canal construction project.
During the Second World War, Lafarge provided the Nazi regime with concrete for the French part of the Atlantic Wall. This maintained activity permitted the company to transition rapidly to the period of post-war reconstruction.
In 1980, Lafarge joined with the Belgian coal, coke and fertilizer company Coppée to become SA Lafarge Coppée.
Lafarge purchased a plant from the National Gypsum in early 1987. Ten years later, it bought Redland plc, a British quarry operator.
In 1999, Lafarge acquired a 100 percent shareholding in Hima Cement Limited, the second-largest cement manufacturer in Uganda, with an installed capacity of 850,000 metric tonnes annually, as of January 2011. That same year, Lafarge entered the Indian market through its cement business, with the acquisition of Tata Steel's cement activity. This acquisition was followed by the purchase of the Raymond Cement facility in 2001. In 2001, Lafarge, then the world's second largest cement manufacturer, acquired Blue Circle Industries (BCI), a British company which at the time was the world's sixth largest cement manufacturer, to become the world's largest cement manufacturer.
In 2006, Lafarge North America shareholders accepted a $3 billion tender offer from Lafarge Group which gave the parent company full control over the North American business, removing LNA from the New York Stock Exchange. Previously the group had owned 53 percent of LNA shares.
In 2007, the company divested its roofing division, selling it to a private equity group under a deal that resulted in Lafarge retaining a 35 percent equity stake.
In December 2007, Lafarge announced the purchase of the Orascom Cement Group, an Egyptian-based cement producer with operations across Africa and the Middle East, from Orascom Construction Industries (OCI).
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On 15 May 2008, Lafarge acquired Larsen & Toubro Ready Mix-Concrete (RMC) business in India for $349 million.
In 2009, Lafarge sold the Canadian precast concrete company Pre-Con to Armtec Infrastructure Income Fund.
In 2010, Lafarge strengthened its presence in Brazil (an agreement with Lafarge and STRABAG to create a common company in Cement in Central Europe).
In 2011, Lafarge SA announced it would build a cement plant in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia with an investment of up to Rp 5 trillion ($585 million).
In 2011 Lafarge sold to Boral its stake in their common Asian Gypsum joint-venture LBGA (Lafarge Boral Gypsum Asia).
Lafarge launched three plants in Hungary, Syria and Nigeria and created a joint venture with Anglo American in the United Kingdom.
During early 2015, the group sold most of its European, South American, Asian and Australian gypsum operations.
In September 2013, Lafarge agreed to the sale of its 53.3 percent stake in its Honduras subsidiary Lafarge Cementos SA de CV to Cementos Argos for €232m.
In 2018, the Lafarge Cement plant located south of Kobanî, Syria was being used as a base of operations by 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment and United States Army forces.
During 2022, Lafarge Egypt launched "Shatbna," an eco-friendly masonry cement with a 40 percent lower carbon footprint.
The company is active in Greece through the full ownership of Heracles General Cement, since 1991.
In September 2024, Lafarge was in the process of building a new cement plant in Ratari near Obrenovac, within Serbia.
Merger with Holcim
On 7 April 2014, Lafarge and Holcim announced they had agreed to terms on a "merger of equals". The exchange ratio will be based on 9 Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares. The new company would be based in Switzerland and have a manufacturing capacity of 427 million tons a year would vastly exceed the 227 million ton capacity Anhui Conch. Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont and Holcim Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle became co-chairmen of the new group. Eric Olsen, then Lafarge's Executive Vice-president in charge of Operations, became the CEO of the new group. Executives from both companies said the deal would save the new company 1.4 billion euros (US$1.9 billion) annually and create "the most advanced group in the building materials industry."
The deal faced significant regulatory obstacles, as 15 different jurisdictions could have potentially raised objections. The cement market in Europe is tightly consolidated and antitrust scrutiny of deals has been commonplace since the 1970s. To meet regulatory concerns, Holcim and Lafarge planned to sell or spinoff assets that generated about 5 billion euros (US$6.9 billion) of revenue in 2013 in areas of large overlap between the two companies. Lafont said the merger was aimed at rebalancing operations, not cutting costs. He said overlapping businesses would be sold, not closed, so industry job losses would be minimal.
Industry analysts said the deal would combine Holcim's marketing strength with Lafarge's edge in innovation, while providing significant cost savings, but cautioned "the road to merger clearance will be a long, complex and uncertain one." Others said the deal could lead to further mergers within the industry and give competitors a chance to pick up assets at a bargain price. Most analysts surveyed by Reuters felt the merger would be approved in the end.
The acquisition would turn it into the world's third-biggest building materials supplier. Analysts said that although it was broadly anticipated by the market. "The additional assets expand the company’s footprint in Eastern Europe and into Brazil and the Philippines. Given the well flagged nature of the deal, however, these benefits are largely reflected in the price at current levels," Alan Breen of Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland said.
On 10 July 2015, Lafarge merged with Holcim. On 15 July 2015, the new company was officially launched around the globe under the name of LafargeHolcim, which was later renamed as the Holcim Group on 8 July 2021.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lafarge (company), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7