Los Angeles-based Concrete.ai is preparing for general release of its pioneering data science platform, programmed to reduce costs and embodied carbon intensity (CO2e) in concrete construction. Ahead of the launch, the company is filling key management positions and executing a worldwide, exclusive license from the University of California, Los Angeles for the underlying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)…
Read MoreTag: Holcim Ltd
Holcim extends Louisiana presence with Cajun Ready Mix deal
Sources: Holcim Ltd., Zug, Switzerland; CP staff Holcim has acquired Cajun Ready Mix Concrete, which leads the Baton Rouge, La. market with eight plants and 51-mixer truck fleet. The business is strategic to Lafarge ready mixed operations in New Orleans and becomes the latest bolt-on under Holcim’s Aggregates & Construction Materials U.S. umbrella.
Read MorePRODUCERS – MARCH 2016
Vulcan Materials Co., Birmingham, Ala., has elevated two senior vice presidents to new posts: Stan Bass, SVP West, overseeing Western and Mountain West Divisions, to chief growth officer, responsible for leading business development, commercial excellence, and strategic growth initiatives; and, Michael Mills, SVP & general counsel, to chief administrative officer, charged with executive oversight of non-financial, administrative functions. Also, Brock Lodge has been promoted from Western Division vice president and general manager to president, and Jerry Perkins, from assistant general counsel to general counsel, maintaining the corporate secretary post.
Read MoreCRH ‘development’ activity approaches $9 billion in watershed year
Sources: CRH Plc, Dublin; CP staff
Crunching numbers on deals affecting operations in North America, Europe and Asia, CRH closed 2015 with about $8.8 billion in acquisitions, and divestments netting proceeds near $1 billion. Anchoring the calendar was a $7.2 billion transaction for the lion’s share of cement, concrete and aggregate production assets Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. sold in conjunction with their July merger.
Read MoreLafargeHolcim CEO plan: Integration, innovation and “growth in the right places”
Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. executives unveiled a new global leader in heavy building materials in mid July, presenting the merged business—LafargeHolcim Ltd., based in Zurich with major administrative office in Paris—as an operator of 2,500-plus cement, concrete and aggregate plants in 90 countries.
Read MoreHeidelbergCement, Italcementi deal invites test of Lehigh Hanson, Essroc synergy
Within weeks of the Lafarge Group and Holcim Ltd. merger, two European peers outlined an agreement that will perpetuate a realignment of cement, concrete and aggregate production in key U.S. and Canadian markets.
LafargeHolcim chief prepares to mill “A new leader for a new world”
Sources: CP staff; LafargeHolcim Ltd., Zurich
True to a timeline in their April 2014 announcement of a proposed union, Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. executives unveiled a new global leader in heavy building materials July 15, presenting the merged business, LafargeHolcim, as an operator of 2,500-plus cement, concrete and aggregate plants in 90 countries.
Read MoreCement, slag plant and terminal asset suitors prepare for timely transactions
Sources: CP staff
The formal closing of the Lafarge S.A. and Holcim Ltd. merger will trigger expedited unloading of U.S. and Canadian cement, aggregate and concrete production and distribution assets valued at $1 billion-plus. Topping the regulator-driven transactions will be the sale of the Holcim (Canada) Inc. business to Oldcastle Inc. parent CRH Plc, and Lafarge North America’s Davenport, Iowa, cement plant and seven-terminal Mississippi River network to Continental Cement Co. parent Summit Materials.
Read MoreWith FTC nod, Buzzi, Eagle surface as latest Lafarge, Holcim asset suitors
Sources: CP staff; Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C.
The FTC has opened to public comment a proposed consent agreement settling a complaint alleging that the Holcim Ltd. and Lafarge S.A. merger would likely harm competition in the U.S. It details a portfolio of Holcim (US) Inc. and Lafarge North America portland cement and slag cement production and distribution assets to be divested in conjunction with the parent companies’ union.
Read More$450M Summit-Lafarge deal entrenches Continental Cement up and down the Mississippi
Sources: CP staff; Summit Materials LLC, Denver; Lafarge Group, Paris
Five weeks after it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Summit Materials has moved to strengthen its largest holding, Missouri-based Continental Cement, through participation in a regulator-driven asset sale tied to the impending Lafarge Group and Holcim Ltd. merger.
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