THE merger between China’s two largest construction materials companies is expected to complete around the year end.

China National Building Material Group Co said today that it will complete merging with China National Materials Group Corp (SINOMA) by December or January next year.

The announcement came after nine subsidiaries of the two groups suspended trading last week. Various media outlets, quoting business insiders, indicated they were accelerating the merger. The merger was first unveiled in August last year after the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, approved the deal.

Seven mainland-listed companies out of the nine resumed trading yesterday, and they all saw their share prices rise amid investors’ bullish expectations of the merger.

The merger will see CNBM acquiring SINOMA’s shares, with the latter delisted from the Hong Kong stock market.