Holcim to buy UK’s Foster Yeoman
Holcim Ltd said it has made a recommended cash offer, via its UK unit Aggregate Industries, to buy the privately-held UK heavy building materials company Foster Yeoman Ltd. Holcim would not comment on the price it has offered, but said Aggregate Industries has already has received irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer from holders of 68.3 pct of Foster’s shares. These undertakings will remain binding in the event of any competing offer, it added.
In the financial year ended May 2005, Foster Yeoman had sales of approximately UK£224m and sold more than 11Mt of aggregates and about 1.5Mt of asphalt. Holcim said the takeover ’ideally rounds off Aggregate Industries’ aggregates and asphalts operations.’
Foster Yeoman owns Torr Works, a limestone quarry in England, and the Glensanda quarry, a granite quarry in Scotland, which together have almost one billion tonnes of raw material reserves. Foster Yeoman’s sales activities
are supported by a network of depots across the UK and a network of sales points at major ports in Northern and Western Continental Europe.
Holcim’s takeover of Foster Yeoman ideally rounds out Aggregate Industries’ aggregates and asphalt operations in the UK. At the same time, Holcim can secure an attractive network in the coastal markets of Northern and Eastern Europe. The integration of Foster Yeoman into the Holcim Group will also reinforce the dual product strategy centering on cement and aggregates. Published under Cement News
