Last month, The Irish Times first reported CRH as a potential bidder for parts of the Swedish cement business Scancem, where a majority stake in the business is being sold off by Norwegian group Aker and Swedish group Skanska.

CRH was one of a plethora of potential bidders mentioned at the time, but the general view is that CRH is unlikely to get into an auction for the Scancem assets, whatever about the attractions of Scancem's Castle Cement subsidiary in the UK.

There is little doubt in the market that CRH is seriously interested in Castle Cement, but the Irish group will face intense competition from the likes of RMC and Lafarge. Castle is seen as one of Scancem's prize assets with a 25 per cent share of the British cement market and is viewed as a logical addition to CRH's portfolio of businesses following the acquisition of brick manufacturer Ibstock and the imminent sale of merchanting subsidiary Keyline.

If Lafarge or RMC did buy Castle it would create the UK's first integrated cement-to-aggregates group and would probably force the pace of consolidation in the British building materials industry.

Other prospective bidders as well as CRH, RMC and Lafarge are Blue Circle and Rugby. CRH has always had a tradition of not getting embroiled in auctions and has usually simply named its price for an acquisition and walked away if that price was not accepted. Few expect any change in that approach in its likely offer for the Scancem assets.