PARIS: French building products manufacturer Saint-Gobain said on Monday that it had entered a binding agreement with Australia's CSR to buy the firm for the equivalent of US$2.9 billion.

The cash offer of A$9.00 per share represents a 7.4 percent premium to Monday's closing price and a 33 percent gain to last Tuesday before speculation began about a sale, and values the company at approximately A$4.3 billion.

CSR is a leading building products company in Australia and Saint-Gobain called the acquisition "a decisive step to strengthen its presence in the fast-growing markets of Asia-Pacific."

With A$2.6 billion in annual revenue, the company has 30 manufacturing plants and around 2,500 employees.

The friendly offer, which CSR's board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders approve, is subject to regulatory approval.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year, which the company expects will finally cost it 1.9 billion euros (US$2.1 billion) after selling off a property unit.

Saint-Gobain chief executive Benoit Bazin said the purchase was the biggest the company had made since 2005.

The companies have a long history of working together as CSR has been the distributor of Saint-Gobain's Rockwool insulation since 1989.

"It's a group that has regular growth, attractive and profitable," Bazin said.

Saint-Gobain took in 51.2 billion euros in revenue in 2022 and employs 168,000 people in 75 countries.

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