Blackstone, CVC-Led Groups Said to Bid for Holcim-Lafarge Assets

(Bloomberg) — Groups led by Blackstone Group LP and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. submitted bids for assets put up for sale by cement makers Holcim Ltd and Lafarge SA ahead of their planned merger, according to people familiar with the matter.

Blackstone teamed up with Cinven Ltd. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, while CVC made a bid with Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund GIC, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private. At least two trade buyers also submitted bids for some of the assets, the people said. The winner of the portfolio, which is valued at about $6 billion, may be announced as soon as next month, they said.

Spokesmen for Paris-based Lafarge and Jona, Switzerland- based Holcim declined to comment, as did representatives for Blackstone, CVC, Cinven and CPPIB. A spokesman for GIC didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The Swiss and French cement makers are seeking to divest businesses with revenue of about 5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) to ensure regulatory approval for the deal. The companies expect the $40 billion merger, agreed on in April 2014, to be completed in the first half of this year.

–With assistance from Aaron Kirchfeld in London.

To contact the reporters on this story: Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at [e-mail]; Kiel Porter in London at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Thiel at [e-mail] Elizabeth Fournier