In 1995, CRH made its first entry into new or emerging markets when it bought Holding Cement Polski, which later gained majority control of Cementownia Ozarow, one of the Poland's major cement producers. That acquisition marked the first CRH cement manufacturing operation outside Ireland. By the end of the decade, CRH numbered more than a dozen operations in Poland and it has since invested in cement production in neighbouring Ukraine, most recently with the announcement of an agreement to buy Mykolaiv Cement from rival Lafarge. In 1999 CRH bought Finnsementti Oy, Finland's only cement producer, and Lohja Rudus Oy, Finland's top producer of aggregates and ready-mix concrete.