Holcim and Lafarge are in "advanced" discussions with European antitrust regulators over their proposed merger, Bernard Fontana, chief executive of Holcim, told the Wall Street Journal.

Earlier this month, the companies identified shared assets, including 23 plants in eight countries amounting to a total of 27.5Mta, that will be sold to allow the merger to go ahead.

Mr Fontana told the newspaper that discussions with the European Union – where the two companies have some of their greatest overlap – were at an "advanced" stage. He expected formal notification to be made this summer.

The two companies have filed formal notifications in about two-thirds of the 15 jurisdictions that require a review of the proposed deal. Those include the US, Canada, Mexico, India and Russia, among others, the report added.

 "We are on track," Mr Fontana said, reiterating that he expected the deal to close before the end of the first half of 2015.