Three firms reportedly submit bids for LH eastern India assets

Three contenders have submitted binding bids to acquire LafargeHolcim's (LH) Indian cement assets in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, according to local press reports.

CRH Plc., HeidelbergCement India Ltd and Baring Pvt Equity Asia have submitted the final bids for the assets with a combined capacity of 5Mta, two persons familiar with the development told Live Mint (India).

"The bids have come in the range of INR4100 crore to close to INR5,000 crore and final round of negotiations have begun," said one of the two persons.

The deadline for submission of bids expired this week, the report addd.

As a precondition for the Indian leg of the Lafarge and Holcim merger, the Competition Commission of India for the merge directed Lafarge to sell the assets so that the companies own less than five per cent market share in the eastern region. These include a cement plant in Sonadih (Chhattisgarh) and a grinding unit in Jojobera (Jharkhand), with a total capacity of about 5Mta.