Board of Swiss cement maker Holcim rejects terms of merger with France's Lafarge

A deal to create the world's largest cement maker has been put on hold after the board of Swiss company Holcim said it doesn't accept the terms of the merger.

Holcim said in a statement Monday that its board of directors concluded that the merger with French rival Lafarge couldn't be pursued "in its present form."

It proposed renegotiating the exchange ratio and governance issues of what had been envisaged as a merger of equals.

Lafarge said in a separate statement that it was committed to the merger and willing to discuss revising the original proposal to swap its own shares for those of the new company at a rate of one-to-one.

But Lafarge said it "will not accept any other modification of the terms of the existing agreements."