According to the president of CRH in Central and Eastern Europe, Guillaume Cavallier, in the context of infrastructure restoration in Ukraine, it is important to use cement produced locally, which will provide jobs and higher revenues to the state budget.
Guillaume Cavallier emphasized that for the potential growth of the Ukrainian cement market after joining the EU, it is important to invest in the expansion of production now. He reminded that the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) is currently considering CRH's application for the acquisition of the assets of the Italian Buzzi in Ukraine - cement plants "Volyn-cement" (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and "YUGcement" (Olshanske, Mykolaiv region).
As previously reported, on January 23, 2024, the AMCU announced the initiation of the case on concerted actions in the form of the implementation of provisions on refraining from competition, enshrined in the concentration agreement between the Irish group CRH and Dyckerhoff GmbH, which owns assets in Ukraine.
In June 2023, the Italian cement manufacturer Buzzi, listed by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption on the list of international war sponsors, through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, reached an agreement to sell part of its business in Eastern Europe to the Irish group CRH, including Ukrainian assets in the form of two cement plants. The agreement is planned to be closed in 2024.
Later, in September 2023, AMCU returned CRH's application for concentration without consideration due to non-compliance with the requirements, and also noted that the group occupies about a third of the Ukrainian cement market. In October of the same year, the department again started consideration of the case.
CRH has been working in Ukraine since 1999. Since November 2021, his cement enterprises in Ukraine have been operating under the Cemark brand: Podilsky Cement JSC (Khmelnytskyi region), Cement LLC (Odesa) and Mykolaivcement PJSC (Lviv region).
A separate area of CRH's business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. The Bilotserk plant of ZBK PoliBeton Energo is a specialized enterprise that produces supports for power transmission lines. PoliBeton concrete unit in the north of Odesa entered CRH in 2020.
CRH is a leading producer of building materials in the world. About 71,000 people are employed at the company's 3,200 enterprises in 28 countries. It is the largest manufacturer of building materials in North America and Europe. The company is also represented in Asia. CRH American Depository Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
