Holcim expects to select buyers for assets by end-Jan

Holcim said it expects to have found buyers for the cement plants and other operations linked to its tie-up with Lafarge by the end of January, and that the merger is on course to be completed by the middle of next year as planned.

"We expect the final bids somewhere in January 2015,"  Bernard Fontana, chief executive of Holcim said at the company's investor day on Tuesday, adding that Holcim also hoped to select buyers for the assets the same month.

"All this is consistent with an overall transaction expected within the first half of 2015," he said.

In slides accompanying the presentation, Holcim said the planned divestments would likely be completed between the end of November 2014 and the end of February 2015.

Holcim's Chief Financial Officer Thomas Aebischer said this month that the company had received more than 60 bids by an 20 October deadline for non-binding offers.

Fontana added that approval has now been received from seven out of 20 regulators and that other clearances were expected between late November and the end of February.  Management also indicated a preference for selling all the European assets in one block if possible.