CRH seeks to buy out Australian concrete maker Adbri in €1.3bn deal

Irish construction giant has operated in Australia for 15 years

Irish-based CRH ended trading of its shares on the Irish stock exchange at the end of September and opted to migrate its main stock listing to New York, while maintaining its secondary listing in London.

Building materials giant CRH is seeking to help to buy out Australian concrete maker Adbri after linking with the Barro Group, in a A$2.1bn (€1.3bn) deal that will help boost its presence in a country which has until now been one of the smaller contributors to its global operations.

CRH already owns a small stake in Adbri and now plans to end up owning a total of 57% of the shares by linking with Barro, a manufacturing company that has a 43% stake in the stock market-listed Adbri.

“The agreed cash consideration of A$3.20 per share values Adbri at an equity valuation of A$2.1bn on a 100% basis and values the approximately 53% of issued share capital the partners do not currently have an interest in and which CRH has agreed to acquire at A$1.1bn (€677m),” CRH said in a statement.

Chief executive Albert Manifold said the acquisition was the “next logical step for CRH to expand our existing presence in Australia, where we have been operating for 15 years”.

Irish-based CRH ended trading of its shares on the Irish stock exchange at the end of September and opted to migrate its main stock listing to New York, while maintaining its secondary listing in London.

Its New York-based shares have climbed 70% from a year ago helped by the global recovery from the pandemic and boosted by the huge public spending programme of Joe Biden’s White House which entails investing in dilapidated US infrastructure.