Shares in Readymix rose nearly 13 per cent yesterday as speculation about its future mounted following the announcement that its majority shareholder, RMC, had agreed a bid from Mexico's Cemex.

RMC, which is undergoing a major restructuring that has seen its workforce cut to 28,000 from 33,000 over the past two years, has recommended a £2.3 billion (€3.4 billion) bid from Cemex, the world's third-largest cement maker, to its shareholders.

RMC owns around 63 per cent of Readymix.

"Although Readymix is only a small portion of the overall RMC group, RMC's new owners are likely to review this asset in time," said Mr John Mattimoe, analyst with Merrion Stockbrokers. "Its three options will be: maintain the status quo, buy-out the minority, or exit in part or entirely."

Readymix, which has faced a tough operating environment over the past three years, rebuffed an approach from privately owned Kilsaran Concrete just 18 months ago.

At the time, Kilsaran was willing to pay €1.90 per share for the group but Readymix rejected the offer, which had been revised up from an initial €1.75 per share.

Last night, Readymix shares closed 20 cents, or 12.9 per cent, higher at €1.75.

Analysts said it might take some time before RMC's new owners got around to considering the future of its Irish operation but, given that Cemex was predominantly a cement company, it was likely to review ownership of the Irish firm, which makes readymixed concrete.

Cemex's move to acquire RMC may also have implications for the Republic's largest building materials group, CRH. Analysts suggested yesterday that the move might signal another wave of consolidation in the global building materials sector, similar to that seen in the 1999-2001 period.

Brokers also suggested that there could be spin-off deals of interest to CRH from the RMC transaction if Cemex decided to sell some of RMC's assets for competition or strategic reasons.

Mr John Sheehan , an analyst at NCB, noted that CRH would be interested in any sale of RMC's North American or European assets. "They will be keeping a close eye on this," he said.

Cemex will pay 855p a share in cash, a 43 per cent premium to RMC's closing price of 599p last week and enough to ensure the deal goes through, according to market sources.

"A knockout blow in our view. We advise shareholders to take the cash and run," investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein said in a research note yesterday. - (Additional reporting by Reuters)