By John Revill
ZURICH--Holcim Ltd. (HOLN.VX) on Tuesday said two executives
have been appointed to present assets to potential buyers as the
building materials manufacturer presses ahead with a $50 billion
union with France's Lafarge SA (LG.FR).
Alain Bourguignon, its area manager for Canada, the U.K. and the
U.S., and Marc Soule, a Lafarge senior vice president, will be
seconded to a divestment committee set up by the two companies.
The appointments come as Holcim and Lafarge look to sell chunks
of their businesses around the world to receive regulatory backing
for their merger, which they hope to complete by the middle of
2015. The deal, which was announced this year, will create the
world's biggest construction materials company by revenue, with
sales of about $43 billion.
One option for the executives is to carve out the operations the
companies want to sell and seek a buyer for the entire package,
Holcim said. In this event, Mr. Bourguignon would be proposed as
chief executive and Mr. Soule as chief financial officer of the
divested assets.
Holcim said it was exploring different divestment strategies
with regulators and potential buyers.
The company also said Urs Bleisch, who oversees the company's
cost-cutting measures, would be nominated to its executive
committee.
Write to John Revill at john.revill@wsj.com
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