PARIS — Switzerland’s Holcim unveiled an all-share deal to buy France’s Lafarge on Monday to create the world’s biggest cement maker with combined sales of €32bn.The partners billed the deal as a merger of equals under which Lafarge shareholders will receive one Holcim share for every Lafarge share held, with the combined group to be based in Switzerland and listed in Zurich and Paris.Shares in Lafarge rose 4% at the open, the top gainer on France’s blue-chip CAC 40 index, while shares in Holcim were up 5.4%. The new entity, worth just under $60bn, would see 53% shareholder control for Holcim and 47% for Lafarge, the companies said in a joint website presentation, which follows news the pair were in talks on Friday and agreement over the weekend.The transaction will be the industry’s biggest-ever tie-up, and would help the companies slash costs, trim debt and better cope with the soaring energy prices, tough competition and weaker demand that have hurt the sector since the 2008 econ...
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