CEO named for cement titan LafargeHolcim

GENEVA - The boards of France's Lafarge and Switzerland's Holcim have approved Eric Olsen for the role of chief executive officer once the firms merge, creating the world's biggest cement company, they announced on Thursday.

The 51-year-old French and American national is currently executive vice president for operations at Lafarge, said a Holcim statement.

Last year the two companies announced plans to create a cement titan employing more than 130,000 people, which would generate annual sales of 32 billion euros ($34 billion) and underlying profits of 6.5 billion euros -- a major event in the global construction industry.

The merger still must be approved by two-thirds of shareholders at each of the two companies at special general assemblies.

In March the two companies renegotiated the exchange ratio for the merger -- nine Holcim shares for 10 Lafarge shares -- after the sharp rise in the Swiss franc drove up Holcim's value.

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