(Alliance News) - Breedon Group PLC on Thursday noted that the UK Competitions & Markets Authority said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that the undertakings offered by Breedon could be accepted for the acquisition of Cemex's UK operations.
Breedon had announced the GBP178 million purchase of the UK assets of Mexican building materials peer Cemex SAB de CV back in January. At the time, it said it expected the purchase to be completed in the second quarter of 2020.
Cemex's UK assets encompass approximately 100 operations across six divisions located in Scotland, Wales, North-East England, Norfolk, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.
In August, the UK regulator said that following its initial phase one investigation it has found that the deal gives rise to competition concerns in relation to the supply of ready-mixed concrete, non-specialist aggregates or asphalt in 15 local markets across the UK.
On Friday last week, Breedon offered several undertakings for the acquisition to be cleared, which will require the divestment of a small number of ready-mixed concrete plants and an asphalt plant in England, as well as two quarries and a cement terminal in Scotland.
The UK CMA now has until November 5 to decide on whether it will accept the undertaking, with the option to extend its timeframe to January 5, 2021 if there are special reasons for doing so.
Shares in Breedon were up 0.9% at 77.7 pence on Thursday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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Breedon (BREE)