Crh Closes Four Oldcastle Materials Bolt-On Deals Totaling $350 Million

CRH Plc, Dublin, logged four late-summer transactions in the U.S. netting Oldcastle Materials Group about 500,000 yd. annual ready mixed output, plus

CP STAFF

CRH Plc, Dublin, logged four late-summer transactions in the U.S. netting Oldcastle Materials Group about 500,000 yd. annual ready mixed output, plus aggregate and asphalt production and distribution assets strategic to existing Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West Region platform companies. The acquisitions total $350 million, including debt assumption, and span businesses that reported 2006 sales of $360 million.

In early September, Oldcastle Materials acquired Conrad Yelvington Distributors, Inc. in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Southeast’s largest rail distributor of aggregates. With 35 company-owned locomotives and 1,800-plus leased railcars, CYDI distributes upwards of 10 million tons of materials through 27 rail-served distribution terminals in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Michigan. CYDI sites are strategic to the APAC businesses Oldcastle Materials acquired in August 2006, as well as more established Oldcastle Precast and Oldcastle Architectural Florida operations in the Sunshine State.

In August, two integrated materials and paving/construction businesses were added to the Oldcastle Materials West Region: Eugene Sand & Gravel in Oregon and Cessford Construction in Burlington, Iowa, which combined have 160 million tons of aggregate reserves and reported 2006 shipments of 2.3 million tons of aggregates, 300,000 yd. of ready mixed, and 400,000 tons of asphalt. Oldcastle Materials capped August with the acquisition of McMinn’s Asphalt and Prospect Aggregates, based near Lancaster, Pa. Bolt-on operations to Harrisburg platform company, Pennsy Supply, McMinn’s and Prospect bring four concrete and five asphalt plants and two quarries. They account for 200,000 yd. of ready mixed, 700,000 tons of asphalt, and 1.7 million tons of aggregates annually.