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To finance the purchase, Lafarge will sell an 11.4 percent Lafarge stake to Orascom Chief Executive Officer Nassef Sawiris for about $4.1 billion. It will also borrow about $8.8 billion.

"Orascom Cement's positions are concentrated in a fast-growing region that will fully benefit from the boom in oil and natural gas revenues", Lafarge Chief Executive Officer Bruno Lafont said.

The purchase of the Middle East's biggest publicly traded cement maker will add 45 million tons of production in fast-growing emerging markets by 2010, pushing Lafarge's total capacity to 260 million tons, Lafarge said.

Lafarge said it expected 65 percent of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to come from emerging markets by 2010, compared with 45 percent now.

Orascom cement has projected annual sales growth of 30 percent to 33 percent in the next three years.

Shareholders of both companies will vote on the deal next month. Lafarge shareholders will also vote on creating new shares for the Sawiris family.

The deal should be completed in March, the companies said.

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