CRH has received clearance from Brussels for its 372m euro tie up with the Portuguese cement maker Semapa. The deal will see the Irish firm operating three integrated cement units in a joint venture with the Portuguese firm. It involves CRH buying 49pc of Semapa’s cement arm Secil for 372m euro, including Euro140m in debt. The joint venture will run the three cement plants with a total capacity of 4.2Mt, plus 41 mixed concrete plants and six quarries