Philippines' Aboitiz to invest $531 mln in cement venture

MANILA, July 22 (Reuters) - Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc said it will invest 24 billion pesos ($531 million) in the cement business after formalising a deal with Irish cement maker CRH Plc (NYSE: CRH - news) to buy the Philippine assets of Lafarge SA .

The announcement on Wednesday came about two months after cement companies Holcim (Other OTC: HCMLF - news) and Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) , which have agreed to merge, said CRH would buy some of their assets for 6.5 billion euros ($7.12 billion).

In May, Aboitiz said it was looking to partner with CRH to buy Lafarge's assets in the Philippines as the local power-to-banking conglomerate sought to diversify into infrastructure.

"The agreement (with CRH) will be by way of an agreed investment in holding companies for the purpose of the acquisition of the various Philippine assets and businesses of Lafarge SA, including the cement production and other cement-related businesses and services," Aboitiz told Manila's stock exchange on Wednesday.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the second half of 2015, subject to conditions under the merger of Holcim and Lafarge and approval of the global sale of Lafarge assets, it said.

($1 = 45.2350 pesos)

($1 = 0.9128 euros)

(Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Stephen Coates)