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Sunday, 4 March 2018

Is LafargeHolcim divesting some or all of its Egyptian assets?

Is LafargeHolcim divesting some (or all) of its Egyptian assets? Cement giant LafargeHolcim could see some of its assets in Egypt sold as part of a new cost-cutting and asset sale strategy announced by new CEO Jan Jenisch on Friday, Reuters reports. The company is planning to shed CHF 3.8 bn (USD 4.1 bn) in assets and could also leave two or three countries. Two thirds of the impairments were concentrated in Algeria, Malaysia, Iraq, Brazil, Indonesia and Egypt, Jenisch said. A Bloomberg examination of the respective capacities of the former Holcim and Lafarge prior to their merger in 2014 shows that the majority of the production capacity in those countries belonged to the latter. The move comes as the company looks to move past the scandal, which brought down its former CEO Eric Olsen, over the company’s Syria factory. The plant, which was bought from Orascom Cement in 2007, is accused of having paid protection to militant factions.

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