Lafarge retreats from Maryland-D.C. market in Bluegrass Materials deal

Sources: Lafarge Group, Paris; Bluegrass Materials, Jacksonville, Fla.; CP staff

Lafarge North America’s pull back from key U.S. positions continues with the planned sale of Baltimore and western Maryland aggregates businesses to a four-year-old company backed by members of Florida Rock Industries’ founding family.

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MIT’s CSHub responds to White House Climate challenges

Source: Concrete Sustainability Hub at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

In a statement on President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the MIT-hosted Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) cited work since 2010 to address two of his key points: building a 21st century transportation sector and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Summit Materials closes on Westroc, Lafarge Wichita assets

Sources: Summit Materials, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

Ending a one-year drought of announced concrete and aggregate deals, Summit Materials has acquired Utah’s Westroc Inc. and certain Lafarge North America assets in Kansas.

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Blue Circle legacy fades as Lafarge NA unloads Georgia quarries

Sources: CP staff; Bluegrass Materials Co., Jacksonville, Fla.; Vulcan Materials Co., Birmingham, Ala.

Lafarge North America’s sale of its Georgia quarries-four to Bluegrass Materials, two to Vulcan Materials-marks a retreat from the Southeast and Blue Circle America assets parent company Lafarge Group placed under its control the past 12 years.

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$446M Lafarge NA asset deal yields Eagle Materials Great Plains platform

Sources: Eagle Materials Inc., Dallas; Lafarge Group, Paris; CP staff

By Don Marsh

Eagle Materials is projecting a November or December closing on Lafarge North America properties in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma: eight ready mixed concrete plants, two aggregate quarries plus a fly ash distribution business strategic to Kansas City; Sugar Creek, Mo., and Tulsa, Okla., cement mills; and six cement terminals in the four states. In the 12 months leading up to June 30, 2012, the operations logged $178 million in revenue.

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Rocky Mountain ready mixed market materializes for Martin Marietta

Sources: CP staff; Martin Marietta Materials, Raleigh, N.C.; Lafarge North America, Reston, Va.

An asset swap with Lafarge North America will net Martin Marietta a major metro-Denver presence, including 10 ready mixed and six aggregate operations, plus nine asphalt production or road-building office/equipment sites.The properties figure to join Martin Marietta West Group’s Western Division, with two Wyoming and four Nebraska quarries. The transaction adds a third West Group state, alongside Arkansas and Texas, where the company has integrated ready mixed and aggregate production.

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Lafarge SE deal consolidates Argos’ Carolinas-to-Texas footprint

Sources: Cementos Argos, Medellin; Lafarge Group, Paris

By Don Marsh

Argos officials cite a significant presence across the Southeast on the heels of a $760 million transaction spanning Lafarge North America assets in the region: 79 ready mixed plants in Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana; Harleyville, S.C., and Roberta, Ala., cement plants, plus Atlanta-area clinker grinding mill; and, six cement terminals (five rail, one port).

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