The much-anticipated $40bn merger of Switzerland’s Holcim and France’s Lafarge is in jeopardy after both sides have been unable to agree on the final terms of the deal. The original agreement had Lafarge shareholders receiving one Holcim share for each Lafarge share. However, the Swiss cement maker’s shares have since outperformed those of their French counterpart. Holcim now says “the combination agreement can no longer be pursued in its present form, and has proposed to enter into negotiations in good faith around the exchange ratio and governance issues.”
For its part, Lafarge says it is willing to consider “the possibility of a revision of parity, in line with recent market conditions,” but it was not willing to accept “any other modification of the terms of the existing agreements.” Bruno Lafont, Lafarge’s chief executive, was set to lead the merged group, but Holcim is now reportedly pushing for management changes, according to Reuters.
