Redland meets last of OFT conditions

REDLAND, the building materials group, has satisfied the last of the conditions set by the Office of Fair Trading following its pounds 613m takeover of Steetley, with the sale of a brick factory in Kent.

The plant, at Tilmanstone, has been sold to Desimpel, the Belgian industrial company, for pounds 10m. Construction of the plant, which was in progress when Steetley was acquired, has been completed by Redland. It is believed that it cost about pounds 10m.

The acquisition was cleared by the OFT after Redland undertook to sell Steetley's clay roof tile business and its brick factories at Cranleigh, Surrey, and Tilmanstone, where the OFT thought the two groups could have a local monopoly. The roof tile operation and the Cranleigh factory were sold earlier in the year and Sir Bryan Carsberg, the OFT's director-general, yesterday confirmed that all conditions had now been complied with.

The disposal brings the total raised from the sale of Steetley assets to more than pounds 150m. The largest part of this came from the disposal of the Spanish businesses, which raised pounds 55m. The plasterboard interests fetched pounds 40m while the clay tile business was sold for pounds 19m.

A number of other businesses - including industrial properties, waste disposal and mining - will also eventually be sold, although none is being actively marketed at the moment.