CRH buy 50% stake in US-based company

BUILDING materials group CRH Plc has bought a 50% stake in American Cement Company LLC (ACC) for $50 million (€39m) in cash via its US subsidiary Oldcastle Materials Inc, it said yesterday.

ACC has been formed to develop and operate a cement plant in central Florida.

Clondalkin-based CRH said in a statement: “Oldcastle Materials’ partners in ACC are the shareholders of Trap Rock Industries, a major regional construction materials and contracting company in New Jersey.”

Senior debt to finance the installation of the facility will be provided to ACC by Oldcastle Materials.

The plant, for which planning and permitting approvals have been received, will have an annual capacity of 1.1 million tonnes, and is expected to begin production in late 2008.

CRH said Florida was one of the strongest construction markets in the US and had very positive long-term demographic growth trends.

“The outlook for the Florida construction sector is excellent and, with up to 40% of total annual cement consumption in the state currently being imported, we believe there is real need for the local production capacity which ACC’s new facility will add,” Tom Hill, CEO of Oldcastle Inc., said.

CRH’s Europe Materials Division produces almost 13 million tonnes of cement annually at facilities in Finland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Tunisia and Ukraine.

“This is Oldcastle Materials’ first investment in the region and is an entry into the cement sector in the US,” CRH said.