Lafarge to sit pretty?

The main man at Lafarge says that the group is stepping back from making any big acquisitions in the near future. In an interview with the UK's Financial Times, Lafont said a large deal is 'not really the order of the day'. There has been frequent market speculation that Lafarge would make an offer for UK building materials group Hanson PLC. 'There will probably be more industrial investment,' Lafont told the FT. 'That doesn't necessarily mean there will [always] be fewer acquisitions than before, but for the next three years that will be the case.' The reason for the lack of another big acquisition before 2009 is not because Lafarge is less aggressive than its peers but because the takeover of the UK's Blue Circle in 2001 has given the company enough size, Lafont said. 'We did the big acquisition before our competitors. We have taken the time to integrate it and it's done... What's left to do is cost cutting,' he said. Sort of puts a damper on the previous rumors reported here, but not necessarily bad news either. Your comment?