Siam City Cement (SCC) has signed a deal to buy Sri Lankan cement company Holcim Lanka Ltd for US$400m. The acquisition will turn SCC into the market leader in Sri Lanka.

SCC is anticipating that the acquisition of the 98.95 per cent stake in Holcim Lanka will be completed within two weeks of the date of agreement, while LafargeHolcim have said the transaction will be completed in 3Q16. SCC will use credit facilities from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to fund the purchase.

This latest sale by LafargeHolcim goes towards its CHF3.5bn (US$3.54bn) divestment target for 2016. The group has secured three-quarters of this target.

Holcim Lanka operates a 1.3Mta integrated plant in Puttalam and a 1Mta grinding facility in Galle. The company also manages three terminals with packing capacities in three local ports, with a total import capacity of 1.6Mt.