Linklaters and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are advising on a joint venture (JV) between Anglo American and French industrial giant Lafarge which is set to create a UK building materials businesses with total sales of £1.8bn.

The proposed deal is a 50:50 JV combining the companies’ UK cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and contracting businesses. The parties said that the tie-up had been sparked due to complementary geographical distribution of operations.