Lafarge SA announced in late May that it will sell assets owned by Blue Circle Industries to Brazil's Votorantim for about US$700 million. The sale will take place once Lafarge's acquisition of Blue Circle is completed, which is expected to occur later this summer.

The sale includes the Bowmanville and St. Marys cement plants in Ontario, Canada; 39 ready mix concrete plants, also in Ontario; a grinding station in Detroit; seven terminals in the Great Lakes region of the United States; and various aggregate assets in Ontario, representing about 4 million mt of annual sales. Lafarge officials said in January, when the company first agreed to purchase the remaining shares of Blue Circle, that it expected to sell some cement-making operations in Canada and the U.S. in order to gain regulatory approval for the acquisition, which still needs approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

With the disposition of the Blue Circle assets, the Canadian Competition Bureau recently approved Lafarge's takeover bid.

In a separate statement Lafarge indicated that it was expecting the Blue Circle buyout to generate annual synergies of at least US$860,000. Lafarge said it expects double-digit growth in net income before amortization of goodwill in 2002. The company believes U.S. operations will remain stable and anticipates a strong contribution from operations in Asia, where cement production will double following the integration of Blue Circle properties.