Cement companies Lafarge SA (LAFP.PA) and Holcim Ltd (HOLN.VX) are nearing a deal to sell at least $7 billion worth of assets to Ireland's CRH PLC (CRH.I), the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Journal noted that the sale of the assets in Europe, Canada and elsewhere was a precondition of winning antitrust approval for the roughly $40 billion pending merger between France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim.

The newspaper said CRH was a finalist in an auction for the assets, competing in recent days with a private-equity consortium including Blackstone Group LP, Cinven and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The paper said that the deal was not yet complete but CRH was poised to win the auction.