Costin Borc, the CEO of Lafarge Romania, the construction materials company whose assets will be sold this year to Ireland’s CRH against the backdrop of the merger between France’s Lafarge and Switzerland’s Holcim, states that the company’s 1,000 employees will not lose their jobs as a result of this operation.
“There will be no layoffs because of the sale. No kind of restructuring is being considered. My impression is that the assets in Romania played an important role in CRH’s decision to buy the package of assets that Lafarge and Holcim are selling,” Borc said. He added that Lafarge’s local plants will not be closed. “The only difference is that the shareholders will change. Such a big sale is a long-term sale,” Borc stated.
Lafarge’s most important local assets that will become part of CRH’s portfolio if the transaction goes through are the two cement plants in Medgidia (Constanta County) and Hoghiz (Brasov County), as well as the cement mill in Targu-Jiu.
Lafarge Romania, which currently includes 8 companies (Lafarge Ciment, Lafarge Comnord, Lafarge Betoane, Lafarge Agregate Betoane, Lafarge RMX & Agregate, Sicim SA, Eco Gest SA, Recy-Eco Combustibil), registered last year a consolidated turnover of approximately EUR 200 M, and a 2 per cent sales hike. For this year Lafarge estimates a consolidated turnover growth of 5-8 per cent.