On 1 Feb 2000, the French building merchant Lafarge SA made a cash offer of approximately £3.4bn for Blue Circle Industries PLC, the UK's leading cement manufacturer. If the offer was accepted by the deadline of 2 March, the acquisition would create the world's largest producer of cement, and represent the fourth big reorganisation to affect the UK construction industry since November 1999. Lafarge first approached Blue Circle on 31 Jan 2000 with a figure of 430p/share, which Blue Circle immediately dismissed as being too low. The pre-conditional offer, made on the following day, came in at an ever lower level, 420p/share, and has been rebuffed by Blue Circle. It is thought that 500p/share would represent fair value. Lafarge defended the bid saying that the price was based on the 394 average of latest fair values calculated by major brokerages.
