Gcc Asset Deal Yields New Minnesota, S.D. Ready Mixed Player

Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A. de C.V. of Mexico, the parent company of Rapid City, S.D.-based cement producer GCC Dacotah Inc., has acquired the assets

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Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A. de C.V. of Mexico, the parent company of Rapid City, S.D.-based cement producer GCC Dacotah Inc., has acquired the assets of Consolidated Ready Mix Inc., Henrich and Sons Inc., Huron Steel Structures Inc., and B&B Concrete Inc. With 14 ready mixed plants in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota, and a combined 100-mixer fleet, the businesses during the past 12 months generated about $30 million in sales on shipments of 300,000 yd. GCC officials note that the deal will enhance the company’s leadership in the competitive cement markets of South Dakota and surrounding regions, positioning it to benefit from anticipated growth in demand for concrete, while immediately augmenting net sales and EBITDA.

The group of companies will be operated by current management as Consolidated Ready Mix Inc., a wholly owned GCC subsidiary. The deal the marks the first transaction aimed at vertical integration for GCC Dacotah, which has an annual capacity of 950,000 tons, and sold the Consolidated plants 63,000 tons in the past year. A handful of transactions since the mid 1990s has positioned major operators Aggregate Industries and MDU/Knife River with integrated ready mixed and aggregate properties in the Dakotas and Minnesota.

GCC Dacotah’s Tijeras, N.M., sister company, Rio Grande Portland Cement, had operated four ready mixed plants until late 2002, selling them to RMC’s El Paso, Texas-based Jobe Concrete Products. GCC Dacotah and Rio Grande Portland are part of GCC America, also of El Paso. The company has a 1.1 million-tpy plant under construction in Pueblo, Colo., with commissioning scheduled for the third quarter of 2007. GCC America’s parent company, Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, is the number five cement player in Mexico.