By Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish cement firm CRH (I:CRH) is working on the basis that the troubled merger of industry giants Lafarge (PA:LAFP) and Holcim (VX:HOLN) will happen, its chief executive said as his shareholders approved asset purchases that depends on it.
"At this moment in time, we're working forward on the basis that the deal will close, the merger will happen," CRH CEO Albert Manifold told reporters on the sidelines of a shareholder meeting on Thursday.
He added that he was in constant contact and had spoken to both companies in the morning.
CRH has agreed to buy a chunk of European assets from the pairing to help Lafarge and Holcim get antitrust clearance for the creation of the cement industry's biggest company.
Thursday's EGM voted in favour of the acquisition for which CRH will pay 6.5 billion euros ($6.93 billion).
The combination of Switzerland's Holcim with Lafarge of France, billed as a merger of equals when it was announced in April 2014, has looked shaky this year amid shareholder grumblings about diverging earnings prospects.
Holcim on Sunday called a halt to the deal, saying it wanted to change the proposed 1-for-1 share exchange ratio and had problems with proposed governance which gave each company seven board members and put Lafarge's boss Bruno Lafont in the CEO role.
The companies are discussing a new leadership for the combined group which would give Lafont a lesser role, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
A Holcim board meeting took place on Wednesday night and Lafarge's board was due to meet on Thursday.
"I'm not going to speculate on whether it is or isn't going to happen. There are discussions going on in Paris or Zurich today to decide what they want to do over the next couple of days," Manifold said, adding that CRH was interested in buying the assets regardless of whether te merger was completed or not.