By KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) returned without consideration the application of the Irish group CRH for permission to concentrate the assets of the Italian company Buzzi in Ukraine, Forbes Ukraine reported, citing the agency.
According to the publication, the application submitted by CRH did not meet the committee’s requirements. In addition, the AMCU pointed out the presence of an oligopoly on the Ukrainian cement market, with CRH already occupying about a third of the market.
The Interfax-Ukraine agency contacted CRH for comment.
As reported, the Italian cement manufacturer Buzzi has reached an agreement to sell its Ukrainian business and ready-mixed concrete assets in Slovakia to CRH for EUR100 million. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2024.
Buzzi Unicem SpA (Italy) unites enterprises for the production of cement, concrete, sand, crushed stone, etc. The main activity of the group is the production of cement, which is produced at its own enterprises in Germany, the USA, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. The Ukrainian division of Buzzi – PrJSC Dyckerhoff Cement Ukraine – has branches created on the basis of the plants Volyn-Cement (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and YUGcement (Olshanske, Mykolaiv region). The group also operates in the ready-mixed concrete sector in Kyiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv.
In Eastern Slovakia, Buzzi’s assets consist of six ready-mixed concrete plants.
As reported, in March 2023, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) added the Italian cement manufacturer Buzzi Unicem to the list of international war sponsors. In Russia, Buzzi operates through SLK Cement LLC, which owns two cement plants, Sukholozhskcement and Korkino, a terminal in Omsk, and the transport company Cemtrans. According to the NACP, the company is one of the five leaders in the Russian cement industry.
The Irish company CRH Plc, the largest manufacturer of construction materials in the world, owned six factories of construction mixtures in the Russian Federation, announced its exit from the Russian market.
CRH entered the Ukrainian market in 1999, acquiring Kamyanets-Podilsky cement plant in Khmelnytsky region. Now, CRH also includes Odesa Cement Plant and Mykolaivcement (Lviv region).
A separate line of CRH business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. The Bila Tserkva reinforced concrete plant PoliBeton Energo is a specialized enterprise that produces supports for power lines. The PoliBeton concrete unit in the north of Odesa joined CRH in 2020.
