EU to rule on CRH bid for Lafarge, Holcim assets by April 27
BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - European Union antitrust regulators will rule by April 27 whether to approve Irish cement firm CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) 's plan to buy assets from merging companies Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) and Holcim (Other OTC: HCMLF - news) , the European Commission said on Thursday.
French Lafarge and Swiss peer Holcim are selling overlapping activities in line with a pledge to the European Commission for clearing their merger to become the world's largest cement producer.
CRH shareholders approved the 6.5-billion-euro ($6.94 billion) acquisitions earlier on Thursday that would make it the world's third-biggest building materials supplier.
Holcim and Lafarge are now seeking to salvage their deal amid issues over the leadership of the combined company and the share exchange ratio. ($1 = 0.9368 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee)