Lafarge is a French industrial company specializing in three major products: cement, construction aggregates, and concrete. The company has become a world leader in building materials. Lafarge was founded in 1833 by Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge in Le Teil (Ardèche), to exploit the limestone quarry in Mont Saint-Victor between Le Teil and Viviers. The limestone is white and argillaceous, and yielded an eminently hydraulic lime.
In 1864 Lafarge signed its first international contract for the delivery of 110,000 tonnes of lime to the Suez Canal construction project. In 1980 Lafarge joined with the Belgian coal, coke and fertilizer company Coppée to become SA Lafarge Coppée. Lafarge purchased a plant from the National Gypsum Company in early-1987. Ten years later, it bought Redland plc, a leading British quarry operator. In 1999, Lafarge acquired 100% shareholding in Hima Cement Limited, the second-largest cement manufacturer in Uganda, with installed capacity of 850,000 metric tonnes annually, as of January 2011. In 1999, Lafarge entered the Indian market through its cement business,with the acquisition of Tata Steel's cement activity.This acquisition was followed by the purchase of the Raymond Cement facility in 2001. In 2001, Lafarge, then the world's second largest cement manufacturer, acquired Blue Circle Industries (BCI), which at the time was the world's sixth largest cement manufacturer, to become the world leader in cement manufacturing. In 2006, Lafarge North America shareholders accepted a $3 billion tender offer from Lafarge Group which gave the parent company full control over the North American business, removing LNA from the New York Stock Exchange. Previously the Group had owned 53% of LNA shares. In 2007, it divested its roofing division, selling it to a private equity group in a deal that resulted in Lafarge retaining a 35% equity stake. In December 2007, Lafarge announced the purchase of the Orascom Cement Group, an Egyptian based cement producer with operations across Africa and the Middle East, from Orascom Construction Industries (OCI).
On May 15, 2008 Lafarge acquired Larsen & Toubro Ready Mix-Concrete (RMC) business in India for $349 million. In 2010, Lafarge strengthened its presence in Brazil (agreement with Lafarge and STRABAG to create a common company in Cement in Central Europe). In 2011, Lafarge SA announced it would build a cement plant in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia with investment up to Rp 5 trillion ($585 million). Lafarge launched three plants in Hungary, Syria and Nigeria and created a joint-venture with Anglo American in the United Kingdom.
The Group sold most of its European, South American, Asian and Australian gypsum operations.
In April 2013, Lafarge adopted a new brand baseline "Building better cities". It reflects the Group’s ambition to contribute to the improvement of cities by developing innovative construction products, solutions and systems. Lafarge’s contribution to better cities addresses some key challenges of urbanization:
· contribute to more housing in cities;
· contribute to more compact cities;
· contribute to more durable cities;
· contribute to more connected cities;
· contribute to more beautiful cities.
In September 2013, Lafarge agreed to the sale of its 53.3 per cent stake in its Honduras subsidiary Lafarge Cementos SA de CV to Cementos Argos for €232m.
Source: Wikipedia.
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