PARIS â€" Holcim and Lafarge, two giant European cement makers, said Friday that they were in ‘‘advanced discussions’’ about a merger of equals that would create the industry’s leader, if the deal survives regulatory scrutiny.
Lafarge, based in France, and Holcim of Switzerland said in a statement that the complementary nature of their businesses and their “cultural proximity†provided the logic for a tie-up “that could deliver significant benefits to customers, employees and shareholders.â€
They cautioned that there was ‘‘no assurance’’ a deal would be reached. A merger of companies of their size is certain to attract global antitrust concerns, particularly in Europe.
Pulling off the merger could take several years, as the companies will have to negotiate with regulators in multiple jurisdictions. Considering their global reach, Lafarge and Holcim could have to sell assets to get regulatory approval.
The cement sector has already attracted the attention of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm. The commission said in October that it was investigating Holcim’s takeover of the northwestern European operations of Cemex, the Mexican cement giant. And that was after it began investigating Cemex’s acquisition of Holcim in Spain.
Antoine Colombani, a spokesman for JoaquÃn Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, declined to comment on the possible merger.
Both companies are world leaders in the market for cement and related products like stone, gravel and sand. Holcim last year had sales of more than 19.7 billion Swiss francs, or $22 billion. Lafarge’s full-year sales were 15.2 billion euros, or $20.8 billion.
The proposed deal is the latest in the resurging European market. Mergers and acquisitions in the region totaled almost $272 billion in the first quarter, up 53 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters data. Telecommunications deals made up the biggest part of that, followed by industrial and health care companies.
Shares of Holcim rose 6.9 percent in late trading in Zurich, and Lafarge rose 8.9 percent in Paris. News of the talks was first reported by Bloomberg News.
