South Carolina-based Metromont LLC, a top five precast, prestressed producer, has agreed to sell a majority interest to old-line, specialty insurance provider Markel Corp. of Richmond, Va. Subsidiary Markel Ventures functions as a holding company with long term investments in businesses serving industrial or consumer markets.
Family-owned Metromont operates six plants from Virginia to Florida, offering architectural, engineering and construction customers a full range of precast, prestressed elements, structural members or complete building systems. In addition to design, engineering and fabrication, the producer provides hauling, erection and field services for projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Production and services payroll exceeds 1,000.
“Our family is thrilled to partner with Markel. We feel blessed to have found a group that shares our same values that began 96 years ago with my grandfather, Captain Pennell,” says Metromont CEO Rick Pennell. “We could not be more excited about the future growth of our company as part of the Markel Ventures family.”
“Metromont, led by three generations of Pennells, cemented its reputation as an industry leader over the past century. Its culture, values, and products have been rigorously tested over that history,” adds Markel Corp. Co-CEO Tom Gayner. “Our strategy at Markel remains one of ‘specialization and diversification.’ With Metromont, we are bringing the most knowledgeable partners in the precast concrete industry into our growing family of companies.”
Markel Ventures is the Pennell family’s second major partner. An initial partnership with Atlanta-based RMC Industries spanned Metromont ready mixed concrete sites in the Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. market, along with precast, prestressed plants in the Carolinas. After 2005, as RMC Industries was assimilated into Cemex USA, the Pennell family sold its stake in the ready mixed production assets and secured full ownership of the precast, prestressed operations. The business has grown significantly with the 2012 addition of a major Bartow, Fla. greenfield plant and 2018 acquisition of the Shockey Precast plant in Winchester, Va.
