Martin Marietta Materials has agreed to combine with Lhoist North America in a transaction valued at US$13.5bn in cash and common stock. Lhoist North America is a subsidiary of Lhoist Group and a major producer of lime and industrial mineral products. The deal is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2026, depending on regulatory approvals.
Lhoist North America supplies domestic steel manufacturing, infrastructure, and heavy nonresidential construction across North America. The business operates twenty quarries and production facilities alongside forty-five distribution terminals. For the 12 months ending 31 December 2025, Lhoist North America generated US$1.8bn in gross sales and US$786m of adjusted EBITDA. The company holds more than 2bnt of high-quality limestone reserves in the Sun Belt metropolitan corridors, representing over 200 years of useful life.
Ward Nye, Chair, President and CEO of Martin Marietta, stated that the transaction marks a transformational milestone that advances the company's SOAR 2030 objective to expand its upstream specialties segment. He noted that the acquisition establishes Martin Marietta as a leading national producer of lime solutions. Baron Berghmans, Chairman of Lhoist Group, expressed confidence that Martin Marietta shares their family values and will honour the legacy built over more than a century.
The combination establishes a larger upstream materials platform with over two hundred years of high-quality limestone reserves. The assets are located across Southeast and Southwest geographies, complementing the high-growth corridors central to the growth strategy of Martin Marietta. The combined business will offer a portfolio of aggregates, lime, and specialty products to serve large-scale infrastructure and industrial mega-projects like data centres and semiconductor fabrication facilities.
Financially, Martin Marietta expects to achieve approximately US$85m in annual run-rate cost synergies. The transaction is projected to increase earnings and margins in the first full year after closing. Upon completion of the deal, the Berghmans family is expected to own approximately 15 per cent of Martin Marietta on a fully diluted basis and will gain the right to appoint one director and one observer to the board of directors. Martin Marietta expects its combined net leverage ratio to be approximately 3.7x at closing, with a target to reduce this ratio below 2.5x within twenty-four months using free cash flow.
