Aditya Birla to bid for Lafarge’s South African cement business?

India’s Aditya Birla group which owns UltraTech Cement Ltd is considering buying Lafarge's cement business in South Africa, the Business Standard reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Lafarge is restructuring its global operations by selling some of its assets to retire debt, the report said.

Aditya Birla is conducting initial assessment for a possible bid for the Lafarge unit, the report said.

Lafarge South Africa Holding has an annual cement capacity of over 3Mt and operates 20 quarries and 55 ready-mix concrete plants. Lafarge is seeking €700-800m (US$0.89-US$1.00bn) for the unit, a report said last month.