(Bloomberg) -- LafargeHolcim Ltd. has agreed to take over one of Romania's largest precast concrete producers, betting the Black Sea nation's crumbling infrastructure will generate future growth.
Europe's biggest cement maker will purchase Somaco Group, a company with total sales of about 56 million euros ($63 million), it said in a statement, without disclosing the value of the transaction. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
The acquisition enables LafargeHolcim, already present in the country, to enter Romania's “fast-growing precast concrete market,” which is expected to advance further in the coming years because of large construction and infrastructure needs, Chief Executive Officer Jan Jenisch said in the statement.
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The country's construction market is slowly rebounding after the global financial crisis a decade ago, but much needed investments in infrastructure have largely been stalled. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila pledged an increased focus on improving the worst roads in the European Union and building highways.
In Romania, LafargeHolcim competes against HeidelbergCement AG and CRH Plc.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net;Irina Vilcu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Piotr Bujnicki, Balazs Penz
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