Lafarge has sold its North American gypsum assets to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds for an enterprise value of US$700 million (€533 million). The company’s North American Gypsum division manufactures gypsum wallboards and joint compounds and generated sales of US$310 million in 2012.
In 2011, Lafarge announced that it planned to refocus on its core businesses: Cement, Aggregates and Ready-mix Concrete. In recent years, the company has divested gypsum assets in Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and now North America. It retains a 20% participation in Etex, which acquired the majority of its European and South American gypsum assets in 2011, but otherwise this latest transaction marks the completion of Lafarge’s extrication from the gypsum industry.
Adapted from press release by Katherine Guenioui