Heidelberg Cement’s Italcementi plan secures Canadian, nears U.S. regulator nods

Sources: HeidelbergCement AG, Heidelberg, Germany; CP staff

Lehigh Hanson Inc. and Essroc Cement Corp. integration is one step closer as the merger of parent companies HeidelbergCement and Italcementi S.p.A. paces a scheduled mid-summer closing. During the HeidelbergCement 2016 General Meeting, May 4 in Heidelberg, management informed shareholders of Competition Bureau of Canada approval and impending U.S. Federal Trade Commission clearance of a combined Lehigh Hanson and Essroc Cement business.

An agreement in principle with the agency rests on a “divestment package” of unspecified U.S. assets for which HeidelbergCement notes “very strong interest.” It likely encompasses cement plants and/or terminals in markets of the highest Lehigh Hanson and Essroc overlap: Indiana, Maryland, upstate New York and Virginia. Officials anticipate by early June formal word from the FTC and the European Commission. The latter is reviewing European Union market effects of the merged businesses, minus Belgium operations HeidelbergCement proposed to sell as part of plan submitted to authorities in April.