HeidelbergCement buys Hanson

HeidelbergCement AG, Germany's largest cement maker, has agreed to buy Hanson Plc of the U.K. for $16 billion) in the global building-materials industry's biggest-ever takeover. The deal allows HeidelbergCement, controlled by German billionaire Adolf Merkle, to increase revenue by two-thirds, expand in the U.S. and bolster output of aggregates, as wellas pipes and bricks. The Heidelberg-based company employs 46,000 people in more than 50 countries and gets almost half its revenue from Europe, with cement accounting for 50 percent of production. Hanson has 26,000 workers in 14 nations and derives half its sales from North America, with 69 percent of output from aggregates.