BUILDING MATERIALS group, CRH, is waiting for regulators to approve a €100 million takeover of a family-owned rival with businesses in Belgium and France.

The group said yesterday that it spent €190 million on a series of investments and acquisitions in Europe and the US in the first six months of 2011.

In addition, it has agreed to buy the family-owned VVM group of businesses, which operates cement and concrete plants in Belgium and France.

The deal is valued at over €100 million. In a statement issued yesterday, CRH said the purchase is subject to “regulatory approval”, and added that it would bring its total development spend for the first half of this year to approximately €300 million.

Chief executive Myles Lee said the VVM deal represented an important strategic opportunity for its Cementbouw cement trading and readymixed concrete business, which is focused on Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands.

During the first half of this year, CRH completed the sale of its European insulation and climate control operations to another Irish company, Kingspan.

It also sold its interest in French distribution business, Trialis back to its original owners. These sales generated €345 million for the group.

Last year, Trialis and the insulation division accounted for €440 million in revenues. Up to the point at which CRH disposed of them this year, the businesses accounted for €100 million in sales.

The group’s Europe materials division spent €40 million. In Portugal its local joint venture, Secil, bought rival Lafarge’s readymixed concrete plants and quarries, which hold 56 million tonnes of reserves.

The division increased stakes in Ukranian concrete business, Lviv Beton and Polish brick manufacturer, Silikaty. Elsewhere in Europe, it spent €20 million on a range of distribution businesses in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Its Americas materials division spent €98 million on acquisitions and investments