Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine allows CRH to buy Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) gave permission for CRH UKRAINE B.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) to acquire shares of PrJSC Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, the AMCU website reports.
It is noted that this purchase will provide the buyer with over 50% of the voting shares on the company's board. The AMCU also gave permission to implement the measures provided for in the purchase and sale agreement that prevent competition (Subparagraph 16.1 of Paragraph 16 of the Share Purchase and Sale Agreement concluded between DYCKERHOFF GMBH, CRH UKRAINE B.V. and CRH NEDERLAND B.V.), which must be carried out within 24 months after the completion of the transaction.
As reported, in July 2024, the AMCU announced the terms of a possible acquisition of the assets of Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine by CRH Group, namely the transfer of 25-28% of the shares of the private joint-stock company with the right of veto to an independent investor within nine months from the date of purchase.
It is expected that such an investor will be the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), since in December 2023 CRH signed a mandate letter with it regarding the joint acquisition of assets of the Italian company Buzzi in Ukraine.
CRH Ukraine B.V. announced its intention to acquire a 99.9775% stake in the charter capital of Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine, which owns two cement plants in Rivne and Mykolaiv regions. The company posted the corresponding message in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission on August 12, 2024.
As reported, in June 2023, the Italian cement manufacturer Buzzi, included in the list of international war sponsors by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, reached an agreement to sell part of its business in Eastern Europe to the Irish group CRH, including Ukrainian assets in the form of two cement factories – Volyn-Cement (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and YUGcement (Mykolaiv region)
The AMCU has been considering CRH's application for concentration since September 2023.
CRH has been operating in Ukraine since 1999. Since November 2021, its cement plants in Ukraine have been operating under the Cemark brand: JSC Podilsky Cement (Khmelnytsky region), Cement LLC (Odesa,) and PJSC Mykolaivcement (Lviv region).
A separate line of CRH business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. The Bila Tserkva plant of reinforced concrete products PoliBeton Energo is a specialized enterprise that produces supports for power transmission lines. The PoliBeton concrete plant in the north of Odesa became part of CRH in 2020.
Since 1999, the company has invested about $500 million in Ukraine. In particular, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, CRH has invested $80 million, including $34 million in the construction of a cement terminal in Kyiv region.
CRH is a leading manufacturer of construction materials in the world. The company employs about 71,000 people at 3,200 enterprises in 28 countries. It is the largest manufacturer of construction materials in North America and Europe. The company is also represented in Asia.