03. February 2015

CRH plc. (“CRH”) announced yesterday that it has entered into a binding commitment to acquire certain assets from Lafarge S.A. (“Lafarge”) and Holcim Ltd (“Holcim”) for an enterprise value of EUR 6,5bn.

The acquisition takes place in the context of the planned merger of Holcim and Lafarge. The worldwide legal lead advisor to CRH was Arthur Cox, Ireland. ARQIS advised the German part of the acquisition. Completion is expected for mid 2015.

In Europe, Holcim and Lafarge are disposing assets in France, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe, the companies are disposing assets in Canada, the United States, the Philippines and Brazil. The German part of the transaction included all of Lafarge’s assets in Germany. Taken together, the assets being disposed generated estimated sales in excess of EUR 5bn in 2014.

CRH manufactures and distributes a diverse range of products servicing the breadth of construction needs. CRH is an international player in its industry, with operations in 34 countries worldwide. It is the largest building materials company in North America, a regional leader in Europe and has a growing presence in the Asian economies of India and China. In 2013, CRH subsidiary companies employed approximately 76,000 people at over 3,400 operating locations, and generated Sales of EUR 18bn.

The ARQIS team around Jörn-Christian Schulze has been advising CRH in various German transactions in the past years.

Advisor CRH

ARQIS Rechtsanwälte (Dusseldorf): Dr. Jörn-Christian Schulze (Lead), Dr. Mirjam Boche (Lead Due Diligence), Johannes Landry, Dr. Christof Alexander Schneider (all Private Equity/M&A), Cosima Preiss (Finance), Dr. Andrea Panzer-Heemeier (Labour Law); Dr. Ulrich Lienhard (Real Estate); Associates: Beata Drenker, Marco Wagner (both Commercial/Regulatory), Franziska Korn, Svenja Schmitt (both Private Equity/M&A), Dr. Sebastian Schröder, Dr. Markus Schwipper (both Labour Law)