CRH Group has underlined its status as one of Europe and North America’s building material producers with a suite of back-to-back billion-dollar announcements in the past week.
CRH started the week with the announcement that it had completed a $2.1 billion acquisition of Martin Marietta Materials assets.
The deal will see CRH take control of a 2.1 metric ton capacity cement plant near San Antonio alongside 20 ready-mix concrete plants that serve the Austin and San Antonio markets. A network of terminals along the eastern Gulf Coast of Texas was also included in the portfolio of products.
CRH chief executive Albert Manifold said the acquisition enhanced the company’s position in Texas and positioned them well to serve other markets.
“Our ability to leverage our cement expertise and technical capabilities will enable us to enhance and optimise our existing footprint in Texas, resulting in significant synergies and self-supply opportunities.
“This transaction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our commitment to deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders.
“We also believe there is significant potential to unlock additional growth opportunities across an expanded footprint in this attractive growth market.”
The transaction is expected to be finalised in 2024.
But the week was only just the beginning for CRH, who followed up the acquisition with a divestment of its lime operations in Europe.
The company reached an agreement with SigmaRoc for a total consideration of $1.1 billion. The deal will see CRH’s lime operations across Ireland, the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.
The transaction will take place subject to regulatory approval. The first phase includes the transaction of CRH’s Germany, Ireland and Czech Republic operations in early 2024.
“The decision to divest at an attractive valuation follows a comprehensive review of the business and demonstrates CRH’s active approach to portfolio management,” Manifold said.
“The proceeds from the divestment will provide us with significant additional capital allocation opportunities to deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders.”
The remaining phases, consisting of operations in the UK and Poland, are expected to be completed later in 2024.
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