ZURICH, June 23 (Reuters) - Holcim has

completed the spin-off of its North American business Amrize ( AMRZ )

, which achieved a $30 billion valuation for the

building materials supplier in early trading on Monday.

Shareholders were given one Amrize ( AMRZ ) share for every share in

Holcim in the 100% spin-off of the business, which the

Swiss-listed company said aimed to sharpen its focus on the

different market dynamics in North America compared with the

rest of the world.

Amrize ( AMRZ ) shares opened at 46 Swiss francs on the Six Swiss

Exchange, giving it a market capitalisation of 24.7 billion

Swiss francs ($30.24 billion), in line with the company's

expectations for a roughly $30 billion valuation.

Its shares later lost 8.8% as Holcim investors sold some of

their stock.

Holcim shares fell 33% from Friday's close to reflect the

separation of the North American business, although they were

10.5% above the reference price estimated by brokers for the new

stand-alone business.

"Some of the Holcim investors will have sold their Amrize ( AMRZ )

shares straightaway and a lot of Swiss investors are more

interested in the decarbonisation story at Holcim," said

Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Martin Huesler.

Holcim has positioned itself as a lower carbon building

materials supplier by producing reduced CO2 cement and re-using

waste.

"Overall, the main thing is the stock price of both Amrize ( AMRZ )

and Holcim combined is now more than the 93.68 closing price on

Friday, which bodes well for the spin-off," Huesler added.

The spin-off decision was announced in January 2024, and is

not linked to rise in U.S. tariffs.

In March, when it outlined its strategy following the

separation, Holcim said it would target average annual growth in

earnings before interest and taxes of 6% to 10% by 2030, driven

in part by mergers and acquisitions.

Amrize ( AMRZ ), which had sales of $11.7 billion in 2024, aims to

grow sales by 5-8% annually. It also wants to increase its core

operating profit by 8-11% between 2025 and 2028 from $3.2

billion last year.

($1 = 0.8168 Swiss francs)