According to Thomas Schmidheiny, head of the world's heavyweight in the cement industry, the Swiss major is looking for a market presence in India but feels its market is ``so fragmented'' that there is not a company sizeable enough to attract major investments.

Zurich-based Holderbank Financiere Glaris is the biggest of the cement world's top leaders, which include France's Lafarge, Mexico's Cemex, Germany's Heidelberger Zement and Britain's Blue Circle Industries.

Schmidheiny said Holderbank, which has a plant in Thailand, has taken a long-term view at the Asian market and that it had attempted to strengthen its position in the region for 10 years before Asia's financial crisis in 1997.

The Asian crisis paved the way for Holderbank to make substantial acqusitions in Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines and Sri Lanka, Schmidheiny said addingthat Holderbank was fully aware that it will take several years for the Asian construction to recover. ``When it does, Holderbank will be quick to benefit from an economic upturn,'' he said and noted that the crisis seems to have bottomed out.

Schmidheiny said that sluggish construction market, high stock prices and legal barriers against foreign investors made it virtually impossible to quickly establish a position in the Asian cement market.

His comments came shortly after a report by the Credit Suisse First Boston's building materials research team that the cement industry consolidation was picking up. The report viewed the global top players as predators while the other industrial participants were set to become the world cement leader's ``eventual prey.''

Holderbank reported sales of $7.1 billion in 1998 and net profit of around $500 million. With around 41,000 employees worldwide, it is the flagship of the Schmidheiny family empire that embraces corporate, financial and real estateinterests.

Regarding increasing Holderbank's investments in China, he said he wants the Swiss executives to learn to speak mandarin before making a big purchase.

Analysts said that Holderbank's portfolio was well-balanced with around 60 per cent in maturer markets and 40 per cent in emerging growth markets.

They said the cement industry was consolidating very quickly and Holderbank has been at the front of the movement and that the Swiss company has been ahead of the pack in going into emerging growth markets.