Eagle Confirms Ash Grove’s Minority Stake

In a recent Securities & Exchange Commission filing, Dallas-based Eagle Materials Inc. detailed a series of mid-summer trades through which Overland Park,

CP STAFF

In a recent Securities & Exchange Commission filing, Dallas-based Eagle Materials Inc. detailed a series of mid-summer trades through which Overland Park, Kan.-based Ash Grove Cement Co. acquired nearly 2.2 million shares of Eagle common stock. Valued at $54 million, and purchased for prices ranging from $22.96 to $24.92, the shares equate to a 5.0 percent stake and position Ash Grove as the company’s fourth largest shareholder. The SEC filing indicates Ash Grove’s plans on holding the stock as an investment, but that it may propose one or more of its representatives for election to the Eagle board of directors.

Formerly Centex Construction Products and spun off from homebuilding and general contracting giant Centex Corp. in 2003, Eagle owns Illinois Cement Co., Mountain Cement Co., Nevada Cement Co., and is an equal partner with Lehigh Cement Co. in Texas Lehigh Cement Co. LP. It also has ready mixed and aggregate operations in central Texas and northern California, plus gypsum wallboard plants in Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Prior to the recent stock purchases, Eagle Materials and Ash Grove were aligned as partners in two-terminal Houston Cement Co., with third partner Alamo Cement Co. of San Antonio. Also in Texas, Ash Grove was previously a partner with Pioneer Concrete and Hanson Aggregates in North Texas Cement Co., with a Midlothian mill and Houston Ship Channel terminal. Ash Grove has since acquired those properties outright, operating them as Ash Grove Texas L.P.