Alex Webb, Columnist

Throwing Your Predecessor Under the Bus

LafargeHolcim's new leader is exorcising the ghost of Lafarge.

March 2, 2018 at 11:35 AM UTC

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

1519991192_cement — Photographer: Roberto Machado Noa

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Three years after the Franco-Swiss mega-merger that created LafargeHolcim Ltd., the new guard is having no qualms about throwing the former Lafarge business under the bus.

In the run up to the deal that created the world's largest cement maker, Holcim of Switzerland went out of its way to be diplomatic: the French got precedence in the new name; Lafarge CEO Eric Olsen assumed the same role at the combined business; and dual listings and headquarters were maintained in France and Switzerland.