"This investment is a friendly move and a long-term strategic investment by Eurocement Holding," Russia's largest cement producer said in a statement.
Eurocement, which is among the world's top eight cement producers and unites 16 full-cycle cement factories in Russia, Ukraine and the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan with an annual capacity of 38 million metric tons of cement, said it did not intend to make a public offer on acquiring the entire stock of Holcim and nominate its representatives to the Swiss company's board of directors.
"The decision on an investment in Holcim stock was made on the basis of a knowledge of the sector and the results of work by the Holcim board of directors and management," Eurocement said in a statement, adding that it was interested in the Swiss company's engineering, technical and technological potential to implement its previously announced investment program.
Eurocement intends to boost cement production capacity to 50 million metric tons annually through the construction of new and the modernization of existing capacities by 2015. The company's investment in the cement business is estimated at $6 billion.
Switzerland's Holcim produced 149.6 million metric tons of cement in 2007.
