Oyak Group eyeing Lafarge and Holcim assets

Oyak Group, Turkey’s largest cement producer, has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and may spend some of it on assets Holcim and Lafarge are looking to shed ahead of their planned merger.

The head of the Ankara-based company told Bloomberg in an emailed statement that the group is interested in Holcim and Lafarge businesses in the eastern European countries of Romania, Serbia and Hugary.

“We are interested in bidding as Oyak or together with a European group” for assets, Caglar said. Oyak has US$2bn in cash for acquisitions and can leverage it more than five times if needed, he said. “We are closely following this sale process.”

Oyak Group, whose cement interests include five listed Turkish companies, completed the purchase of Denizli Cimento from CRH Plc and Eren Holding for a price between US$400-$450m on 10 November, according to Bloomberg.