Holcim Ltd.’s public exchange offer for Lafarge SA is a success, bringing the merger of the two cement giants close to completion, reported MarketWatch.
According to France’s market authority, as of Tuesday 87.46 percent of Lafarge’s share capital, representing 81.47 percent of voting rights, were offered by shareholders. This is well above the two-thirds minimum threshold on which the offer was conditional.
“The result reflects the confidence of shareholders in the future company. Both companies are very pleased with this positive outcome as it paves the way towards completion of the merger,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The final results of the deal, which had been thrown into doubt earlier this year following a disagreement over the exchange ratio and the leadership of the combined company, will be published Thursday.
The merger will create a company with combined sales of $35 billion and operations in 90 countries.
