Dive Brief:

• Holcim Ltd. the largest cement company in the world, will merge with Lafarge, based in France and currently No. 2 in the industry.
• The new company will be called LafargeHolcim and will be Swiss-based, though it will trade on both the Swiss and French stock exchanges, the companies said.
• The merger faces a string of government approvals, and there will be divestments before it happens, but Lafarge assured the government in France that it would not be laying off a lot of people as a result and that the combined company's research facility will be in France.

Dive Insight:

The effect of a merger on cement prices in the U.S. is unclear. There currently is an oversupply of cement in Europe. Analysts have differing views, some saying that the beginning of a recovery is a good time for a merger and some saying that trying to put two giant companies together can prove impossible, as with Chrysler and Daimler.