Impairment of Oglesby, IL cement plant
Initiation of antitrust proceedings by the European Commission

Our subsidiary RC Lonestar Inc. resolved today to write down the book value of property, plant and equipment located at the Oglesby, Illinois cement plant and consisting of the facility’s production related assets. Manufacturing activity at the plant, which used to have a production capacity of 0.7 million tons of cement, had been temporarily ceased effective 1 December 2008, under the assumption that production would resume within the near term.
Based upon the lack of improvement in the economic conditions of the Midwest market area since this date, the company does not expect to resume production at Oglesby for several years, which means indefinitely in time. These circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the production related assets is impaired. However, the facility will continue to operate as a distribution terminal and the market will be served by optimizing the utilization of the company’s Indiana (Greencastle) and Missouri (Selma, Cape Girardeau) plants, with no impact on the ability to attend to customers and on revenues from operating activities.
The Board of Directors of Buzzi Unicem SpA, during today’s meeting, shared the need to proceed with the impairment. The relevant impact in the consolidated financial statements can be estimated at €99.6 million(1) on profit for the year and €101.6 million(2) on equity. The impairment charge is a non-cash item and therefore it does not affect the expected operating cash flow for the financial year 2010 and the net financial position of the group.

Buzzi Unicem received a notification from the European Commission informing about its decision to initiate proceedings vis-à-vis several companies, including Buzzi Unicem SpA and its European subsidiaries, operating in the cement sector in several European countries, aimed to ascertain the possible violation of art. 101 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and of art. 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
In particular, the Commission is willing to conduct investigations in order to ascertain the possible existence of restrictions to the trades between several Members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and towards the EEA, of market sharing, of price coordination and of other potentially anticompetitive practices in the market for cement and other related products. The opening of the proceedings represents the beginning of a phase in which Buzzi Unicem shall have the right to defend itself before the Commission and has a preliminary character also for the Commission: the initiation, therefore, does not mean that the Commission has any conclusive proof on the existence of a violation.
Buzzi Unicem, to its knowledge, deems that no evidence exists to indicate a hypothetical infringement of the antitrust laws.

A similar press release is being issued by the subsidiary Dyckerhoff AG, the full text of which is attached.

(1) average exchange rate dollar/euro Jan-Nov 2010
(2) exchange rate dollar/euro at Nov 30, 2010

The manager responsible for preparing the company’s financial reports, Silvio Picca, declares, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 154 bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance, that the accounting information contained in this press release corresponds to the document results, books and accounting records.

Company contacts:
Investor Relations Assistant
Mariangiola Fiore
Phone. +39 0142 416 404
Email  mfiore@buzziunicem.it

Translation of the similar press release issued simultaneously by the subsidiary Dyckerhoff AG, pursuant to Art. 15 WpHG

“Impairment of Oglesby, IL cement plant

Our jointly controlled entity RC Lonestar Inc. in the U.S. resolved today to write down the book value of property, plant and equipment located at the Oglesby, Illinois cement plant and consisting of the facility’s production related assets. Manufacturing activity at the plant, which used to have a production capacity of 0.7 million tons of cement, had been temporarily ceased effective December 1, 2008, under the assumption that production would resume within the near term.

Based upon the lack of improvement in the economic conditions of the Midwest market area since this date, the company does not expect to resume production at Oglesby for several years, which means indefinitely in time. These circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the production related assets is impaired. However, the facility will continue to operate as a distribution terminal and the market will be served by optimizing the utilization of the company’s Indiana (Greencastle) and Missouri (Selma, Cape Girardeau) plants, with no impact on the ability to attend to customers and on revenues from operating activities.

The Supervisory Board of Dyckerhoff AG, during today’s meeting, agreed to mothball the production facility indefinitely in time and took note of the related impairment. The relevant impact in the consolidated financial statements can be estimated at EUR 48.3 million(1) on profit for the year and EUR 49.3 million(2) on equity. The impairment charge is a non-cash item and therefore it does not affect the expected operating cash flow for the financial year 2010 and the net financial position of the group.

A similar press release is being issued by the parent Buzzi Unicem SpA, with indication of the relevant impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Furthermore, our controlling shareholder Buzzi Unicem SpA received a notification from the European Commission informing about its decision to initiate proceedings vis-à-vis several companies, including Buzzi Unicem SpA and its controlled European subsidiaries, inter alia Dyckerhoff AG, operating in the cement sector in several European countries, aimed to ascertain the possible violation of art. 101 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and of art. 53 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

In particular, the Commission is willing to conduct investigations in order to ascertain the possible existence of restrictions to the trades between several Members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and towards the EEA, of market division, of price coordination and of other potentially anticompetitive practices in the market for cement and other related products. The opening of the proceedings represents the beginning of a phase in which Buzzi Unicem SpA shall have the right to defend itself before the Commission and has a preliminary character also for the Commission: the initiation, therefore, does not mean that the Commission has any conclusive proof on the existence of a violation.

Buzzi Unicem SpA, to its knowledge, deems that no evidence exists to indicate a hypothetical infringement of the antitrust laws.

(1) average exchange rate dollar/euro Jan-Nov 2010
(2) exchange rate dollar/euro at Nov 30, 2010”