The untouchable position of CRH isn’t set in stone

With a Swedish investment fund taking a sizeable stake in Cement Roadstone Holdings, the stage is set for an intriguing battle of wills

Albert Manifold, chief executive of CRH, at the CRH Annual General Meeting last April in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire Pic: RollingNews
Christer Gardell, founder of the Stockholm-based investor Cevian

Everything about Cement Roadstone Holdings is big. The building materials and concrete giant, valued at €21 billion last week, is Ireland’s biggest company.

It employs more people than any other Irish firm, with 85,000 workers. It makes more revenues than any firm, with sales of €27 billion in 2017. Its bosses even have the biggest pay packets of Irish executives with its chief executive, Albert Manifold, taking ...