Albert Frere’s holding company  Groupe Bruxelles Lambert has raised its stake in  Lafarge to 17 pct, the group said at its shareholders’ meeting.  
 
The group did not exclude the possibility of further increasing its  Lafarge stake.  
 
In March, French weekly Challenges reported without citing sources that GBL would raise its stake in the French cement group to 20 pct in 2007 in order to fend off potential takeover bids by the KKR private equity fund or Lafarge’s rivals Cemex in Mexico or  Holcim in Switzerland.  
 
According to the report, GBL would initially raise its stake to 20 pct and then gradually increase its holding to over 30 pct in the next three years.  
 
A GBL spokeswoman told Thomson Financial News that the group has no comment on the report. 
 
In January, GBL trimmed its stake in  Lafarge, then subsequently raised it to 16.10 per cent.