Belgian lime giant, Carmeuse SA, finally achieved the purchase of Lafarge's 40% stake in Carmeuse North America in late December/04 for an aggregate sum of $140M. Lafarge had wanted to sell the stake to an external buyer and this led to a series of arbitration proceedings in 2004. The 60-40 joint venture CNA was created in 1999 with both Carmeuse and Lafarge combining their lime operations in Canada and in the USA. CNA operates 14 plants in N America under Carmeuse lime subsidiaries producing lime, dolomitic lime, hydrated lime products, and refractory dolomite and is a market leader in terms of over all lime volumes. Referring to difficult conditions in recent years, a statement said: "CNA went into a severe financial crisis between 2000-3. The company is currently realising a successful turnaround".
