BZU Buzzi Spa

By Inti Landauro

PARIS--French cement maker Lafarge SA (LG.FR), which is in process of merging with Swiss rival Holcim Ltd. (HOLN.VX), said Tuesday it has sold a Russian unit to Buzzi Unicem as part of its effort to cut debt.

The French company sold Lafarge Uralcement--which operates one cement plant near Chelyabisnk in Russia's Urals region--for an enterprise value of 104 million euros ($134 million). Lafarge will still have other businesses in Russia.

Lafarge aims to bring its debt to below EUR9 billion from EUR11.2 billion at the end of June 2013. It is still recovering from the financial crisis in 2008-2009 when the weight of its debt threatened its operations. Additionally, Lafarge has said it will dispose of assets around the world to secure anti-trust approval for its merger with Holcim.

The sale of Uralcement requires regulatory approval, the company said.

-Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

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