Birla to bid for global assets of Holcim-Lafarge.

In its biggest foreign acquisition bid since Novelis, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-controlled Aditya Birla group is preparing to bid for the assets that Europe's Holcim and Lafarge are planning to sell after merger. The enterprise valuation of the assets on sale across the world could be as high as ^7 billion ($8.85 billion).

A Birla group insider said work on the bid, deadline for which expires next week, had been on for 'quite some time'. The group was interested in acquiring the two European firms’ cement assets to raise its share of the global cement market, he said.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Birla said: 'The group does not comment on market speculation.'

BS