VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Holcim (HOLN.VX) looked at buying Germany's HeidelbergCement (HEIG.DE) towards the end of 2013 before agreeing to merge with France's Lafarge (LAFP.PA), a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday, citing two sources.

Lafarge (LAFP.PA) boss Bruno Lafont wants someone with experience of the cement industry to be chief executive in the French group's planned tie-up with Swiss peer Holcim (HOLN.VX), daily newspaper Le Monde said.

Russian businessman Filaret Galchev, who owns a 10.8 percent stake in Switzerland's Holcim (HOLN.VX) via Eurocement Holding AG, has rejected the takeover offer that France's Lafarge (LAFP.PA) has made for Holcim, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday.

Switzerland's Holcim (HOLN.VX) and France's Lafarge (LAFP.PA) have agreed new terms for their plan to create the world's biggest cement company, giving unhappy shareholders in the Swiss firm a better deal.

Swiss company Holcim (HOLN.VX) and French cement group Lafarge (LAFP.PA) are in talks to renegotiate the terms of their 41 billion euro merger after a divergence in the value of the two companies over the past year, the Financial Times reported.

Swiss company Holcim (HOLN.VX) came under pressure on Monday to secure improved terms for its shareholders in a planned merger with France's Lafarge (LAFP.PA) that would create the world's largest cement maker.

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.

Bankers are lining up just over 1 billion pounds ($1.51 billion) of debt financing to back private equity firm KKR’s potential bid for the UK assets of cement makers Lafarge (LAFP.PA) and Holcim (HOLN.VX), banking sources said on Friday.

A planned merger by Switzerland's Holcim Ltd and France's Lafarge to create the world's biggest cement maker might hurt competition in India, the country's antitrust regulator said on Saturday, asking the firms for more details.

Swiss cement maker Holcim (HOLN.VX) said on Tuesday it expected to have selected buyers for assets it must divest to push through its merger with France's Lafarge LAPF.PA by the end of January.

India's diversified Aditya Birla Group has submitted a bid for the Brazilian and the Philippine assets of cement industry leaders Lafarge (LAFP.PA) and Holcim (HOLN.VX), two persons directly involved in the transaction said.

Lafarge (LAFP.PA) and Holcim (HOLN.VX) are about to request approval from the European Commission for their planned merger, Lafarge Chief Executive Bruno Lafont told reporters on Thursday.

The merger between Holcim and Lafarge was expected to establish the biggest cement company in the world, reported Ventures Africa.

Lafarge would sell its 53.3% stake in its Honduras business to Cementos Argos for a price tag of EUR 232 million.