France's Lafarge announced in December that it has signed an agreement for the sale of its 40.9% stake in Molins. The transaction amounts to a total of around US$ 344 million.

The purchase will take the form of a limited tender offer that Molins will launch for its own shares, likely to take place in the first half of 2004 subject to approval from the Spanish regulatory authorities. Lafarge expect the transaction to be completed by summer 2004. As part of the negotiation, Lafarge asked to acquire Molin's 2.64% stake in Cimpor for about US$89.2 million.