Boral drops bid for Adelaide Brighton

Boral has thrown in the towel and is giving up trying to fight the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the Federal Court for having blocked its efforts.  The board of Adelaide Brighton claims that, since last December when the initial 19.9% stake was acquired from RMC, the likely cost of the acquisition of Adelaide Brighton has risen, while the likely divestments required would be too great to achieve the synergy benefits required to justify the deal.  Boral intends to retain its 19.9% stake in Adelaide Brighton for the time being, at least.  If it the wake of the Cemex bid for RMC, take-over activity in the global cement industry were to take off again, Adelaide Brighton may well become subject to a bid from another international cement group.