The President of UOKiK agreed that Lafarge Cement and Soda Polska Ciech create a joint venture; Van Pur may acquire part of Royal Unibrew Polska’s assets

Lafarge Cement is a manufacturer and distributor of cement. The company’s production takes place at two locations: at the Małogoszcz Cement Plant and Kujawy Cement Plant, and is supported by the Kujawy Mining Plant. The company belongs to the Lafarge Group, a global leader in the production of construction materials and the world’s largest cement manufacturer.

Soda Polska Ciech belongs to the Ciech Group, which consists of Polish and foreign production, distribution and trading companies from the chemical sector. Ciech is the parent company in the group.

The transaction consists in establishing a joint venture - Hatra Cement i Beton (Hatra Cement and Concrete). The aim of the project is to build a separation plant for fly ashes produced in the process of brown coal combustion at the Soda Polska Ciech Sodium Plant.

The other clearance concerns companies dealing with the production and distribution of beer. Under the decision of the President of UOKiK, Van Pur may acquire a beer production plant in Koszalin - now owned by Royal Unibrew.

Having carried out respective antimonopoly proceedings, the President of UOKiK decided that the transactions will not contribute to significant lessening of competition, in particular by creating or strengthening a dominant position on the market.

Under the existing regulations, a transaction is subject to notification to the competition protection authority if it involves enterprises whose total turnover in the preceding year exceeded EUR 1 billion worldwide or EUR 50 million in Poland.

At the same time we would like to inform that since May this year, information about all merger proceedings carried out by the Office has been published at our website.

Additional information:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel. (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: mcieloch@uokik.gov.pl