Lafarge North America Inc. / LAF

About Lafarge North America Inc.

12950 Worldgate Dr., Herndon, Va. 20170
www.lafargenorthamerica.com | 703-480-3600 | Founded: 1983

Industry: Manufacturing | Category: Public Companies

Lafarge North America's future as a free-standing corporation is in question. The company had its beginnings in 1956 when French parent Lafarge Group built a cement plant in British Columbia. It entered the U.S. market in 1974 and started selling public stock as Lafarge North America in 1983.
In early February of this year, Lafarge SA announced that it planned to spend $3 billion to buy the 47 percent of shares in the North American subsidiary that it didn't already own. The move is part of an aggressive strategy by Lafarge SA's new chief executive, Bruno Lafont, who took over the reins of the parent company at the beginning of the year. Minority shareholders in the subsidiary sent a signal to the majority ownership across the ocean that they wouldn't be bought off at the proposed $75 a share; the stock price hovered above $80 after the buyout announcement. Several minority shareholders filed lawsuits. A special committee of the board of directors retained Merrill Lynch & Co. to advise the company on the offer, and in March the commitee rejected the initial offer as too low.
In early April, the French parent raised its offer by 9.3 percent, to $3.3 billion or $82 a share. In late April, the parent company raised its offer again to $85.50 a share, and this time the board's special committee recommended shareholder approval.
Lafarge North America benefited from strong sales last year but also felt the pain of higher energy prices and costs related to Hurricane Katrina. The company repatriated almost $1.1 billion in cash from Canada to take advantage of a one-time tax cut for American companies that take monies from foreign earnings for purposes such as capital investment and hiring new workers. The move earned the company $102.8 million.

Chairman: Bertrand P. Collomb

President and CEO: Philippe R. Rollier

2005 Financial Data

Revenues: $4,309,600,000 | Net Income: $271,000,000
Asssets: $5,552,600,000 | Earnings Per Share: $3.43
Stockholder Equity: $3,255,800,000 | Annual Dividend: $0.92
Total employees: 16,400 | Local employees: 650