CRH in further North American expansion

CRH is spending US$413m to considerably expand its heavy building materials businesses in the United States, including the debt being assumed, in three separate transactions. 

Two of the deals relate to the Mountain Companies, which produce in excess of 4.5Mt of aggregates per annum from eight quarries and one sand & gravel pit, and include a substantial road surfacing business and a 50% stake in a civil engineering contractor and expands the group’s presence in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. 

The purchase of the assets of Southern Minnesota Construction, which produces around 2.75Mt of aggregates per annum, and again a sizeable road surfacing business, represents a geographical extension of CRH’s existing operations in Iowa.  In 2004, the businesses acquired generated a combined turnover of US$294m and an EBITDA of US$52m, with a much improved result being expected for this year.