CRH Said to Be Leading Bidder for Holcim-Lafarge Assets

(Bloomberg) — Irish builder CRH Plc is the leading bidder for the assets that cement makers Holcim Ltd and Lafarge SA need to sell ahead of their planned merger, according to people familiar with the matter.

CRH submitted the best offer so far of about 6 billion euros ($6.9 billion), the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are not public. Holcim and Lafarge are still holding talks with bidders and no final decision has been made, the people said.

Representatives for Lafarge and CRH declined to comment, and Holcim couldn’t immediately be reached.

–With assistance from Joe Brennan in Dublin.

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