Building materials giant CRH is set to raise about €1 billion in debt from the issue of a bond.

The company will begin marketing the bond to financial institutions and investors next week and has brought forward a scheduled interim trading statement to coincide with the bond issue.

CRH has not said how much it intends raising through the bond issue. It will only publish these details when the exercise is completed next month. It is understood that it will be in line with three such issues which CRH held in the US between 2002 and 2006.

Last year's issue raised $1.75 billion (€1.3 billion). The others, in 2002 and 2003, each raised $1 billion. The money is repayable over periods of five and 10 years.

Next week's bond will be in euro rather than dollars. CRH has used the money raised through previous bond issues to refinance existing debt and provide cash for developing its businesses.

Bonds are one of the means by which the group can fix the interest rates at which its debts are repaid.

At the end of 2006, its net debt was almost €4.5 billion. About half of this was repayable at fixed rates.

Last year's bond issue was given a triple B credit rating, which means it was low-risk. The issue was oversubscribed and distributed among 120 financial institutions.

CRH will issue its interim trading update next week, which will give the board's view of how the group has performed in the first six months of this year.