Sources: Vicat Group, Paris; CP staff
National Cement Co. parent Vicat has acquired Walker Concrete and Walker Construction Products, Stockbridge, Ga., which serve primarily south-metro Atlanta through 14 ready mixed plants and four retail locations--the latter offering tools, decorative flatwork supplies and concrete landscaping units. The transaction will foster production synergy with the National Cement mill in Ragland, Ala., east of Birmingham. A 2.2 million ton/year facility with additional capacity scheduled to come on line in 2010, Ragland feeds a distribution channel that includes three metro-Atlanta terminals.

Walker Concrete becomes a fourth ready mixed production platform for Encino, Calif.-based National Cement. Its 1.6 million ton/year Lebec, Calif., mill serves 10-plant National Ready Mixed Concrete, a key Los Angeles County operator, and Builders Concrete and Viking Ready Mix, both in Fresno. In Alabama, National Cement operates Birmingham mainstay Kirkpatrick Concrete, plus bolt-on businesses from other state markets. The move into Atlanta extends Alabama-market overlap between National Cement and Georgia’s top guns in ready mixed production, Lafarge North America and Ready Mix USA.