TARMAC owner Anglo American and France’s Lafarge unveiled plans to pour their cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt operations into a new UK joint venture.
The two businesses, which recorded combined sales of £1.8bn in 2010, expect to generate cost savings of at least £60m a year from the proposed tie-up, which is subject to regulatory approval.
Lafarge entered the UK market in 1987 before buying Redland in 1997 and Blue Circle in 2001. It employs 2,800 people in the UK and supplies about 50% of the cement market.
Tarmac is the UK’s largest quarrying company. It employs 4,500 people in the UK.
Anglo American said it expected only “minimal” job losses as a result of the tie-up.
