CRH spends €250m on 18 deals

Building materials group CRH said today that it had spent €250 million in the first half of the year on 18 acquisition and investment initiatives as part of a programme of development.

In an update to the Irish Stock Exchange, CRH said it had spent some €155 million on five transactions in its Europe divisions including the acquisition of six builders merchants outlets in the Netherlands.

CRH said its Americas division made 13 acquisitions valued at €89 million.

“The Americas Materials Division completed ten bolt-on transactions across its operations, adding 47 million tonnes of strategically located aggregates reserves,” it said.

“Our architectural products business expanded its national packaged products operations with two acquisitions adding plants in Texas, Louisiana and Florida, and also strengthened its masonry operations in the Northeast with an acquisition in Rhode Island.”

CRH said it had divested some €700 million worth of assets in the first half of the year including its 49 per cent state in Portuguese cement producer Secil. It also disposed of Germany based Magnetic Autocontrol, which supplies vehicle and pedestrian access control products.

Chief executiveMyles Lee  said the transactions completed in the first half of the year reflected a continuing strategy of completing acquisitions which filled out regional and product level positions.

“The transactions announced today bring total development spend over the past 12 months to approximately €0.7 billion,” he said.