Turkey's Sabanci to bid for Lafarge-Holcim assets -source

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ISTANBUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding plans to bid for some of the assets cement makers Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) and Holcim (Other OTC: HCMLF - news) must sell to steer their mega-merger past competition watchdogs, a source with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

Istanbul-based Sabanci, a conglomerate with interests ranging from cement to banking and energy, is aiming for growth through acquisitions and said in March that it plans to spend 1-1.5 billion lira ($448-672 million) on such investments.

"Preparations are being made for a bid in December," the source said, adding that Sabanci is interested mainly in European businesses that Lafarge and Holcim plan to sell and that it has obtained preliminary information to assess the assets.

Sabanci, which owns cement companies Akcansa and Cimsa, declined to comment.

Irish cement maker CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) is considering bidding for the entire portfolio of assets to be sold by Lafarge and Holcim, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.

Four consortia of private equity firms are also eyeing the portfolio, with bids valuing the assets at 5-7 billion euros ($6.4-9 billion) expected soon, the sources said.

The Lafarge-Holcim merger, unveiled in April, would create the world's top cement group with $44 billion in yearly sales and would be the industry's biggest ever tie-up. ($1 = 0.7760 euro) ($1 = 2.2310 Turkish lira) (Reporting by Ebru Tuncay; Writing by Seda Sezer; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley and David Goodman)