Lafarge to acquire Holcim for Tk504 crore

Lafarge Surma Cement has announced its plan to acquire Holcim Bangladesh at a price previously set by Bangladesh Bank. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) was informed by Lafarge about this acquisition on Sunday, according to a notice posted in the DSE website. Referring to the information, the notice reads the Lafarge has authorized its company's chief executive officer to execute the deal. The DSE said: "With reference to the earlier news disseminated by DSE on September 18, 2017 regarding approval of acquisition of 100% shares of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh) Limited ("HBL") from Holderfin BV, the Company has further informed that it has approved the Chief Executive Officer of the Company to execute the Amendment Agreement to the Agreement for the sale and purchase of the shares." Earlier, the Bangladesh Bank had given its nod to the plea by Lafarge Surma Cement in this regard and fixed the price of the company at around Tk504 crore. Lafarge Surma Cement, one of the largest multinational cement manufacturer listed with local stock exchanges, wanted to remit $117 million (about Tk950 crore) to the Netherlands to complete the process of buying its shares in Holcim Cement Bangladesh. But Bangladesh Bank asked to fix the price at Tk504 crore which caused a decline in the share price of Holcim Cement in recent times. In December last year, Lafarge signed a share purchase agreement with Holderfin to buy 88,244 shares, at $1,325.88 or Tk106,000 each. Bangladesh Bank approved the share transfer of Lafarge Holcim for the merger but said that the share is overpriced and asked Lafarge Surma to submit documents related to share valuation of Holcim Cement. The valuation of 88,244 shares of HBL was agreed between the parties as $117 million while the central bank gave approval of only $62.52 million. As per the approval was given back on September 17 by the Bangladesh Bank, Lafarge can remit a total of Tk504.78 crore for 88,244 shares of Holcim within one month, meaning the process was supposed to be completed by October 17. But Lafarge was not able to do it. Later, it sought time extension and Bangladesh Bank gave 90 days more to remit the money. Now it is believed that all the hurdles have been removed through the latest announcement by the company.