On April 7 2014, management from the French Lafarge (with 64,000 employees) and the Swiss Holcim (with 90,000) companies announced their intention to merge. This merger would create the world’s number one operator in the buildings materials and cement sector (130,000 employees, 35 billion euros in revenues and operations in 90 countries). The merger is hoped to be completed in the first half of 2015. On top of posing questions relating to the fusion of two large companies, both groups will have to dispose of several entities so as to respect competition laws in the countries where the companies have a presence. Affected union bodies have mobilized at a global level to take a stand against any negative social consequences that may ensue as much for the employees that remain in the merged entity as for the employees that will see their production units sold.
Social impact of competition rules. This merger of two giants in the building materials and cement sector has to get regulatory approval from the appropriate entities (for the EU the EU Commission is solely responsible for this). These bodies will decide if the new entity will have a too dominant position in the markets in the sector thus contravening competition rules. By the end of November out of 20 regulatory authorities reviewing the merger seven had given approval for the merger...
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