Building materials group CRH has brought its spending on acquisitions this year to over £168 million, with the acquisition of the US aggregates company, New York Trap Rock Corporation, for £27.4 million. The acquisition will increase CRH's aggregates business in the US by over 10 per cent to 45 million tonnes a year.
New York Trap Rock was set up exactly 100 years ago and operates two aggregates quarries in southern New York state with reserves of over 330 million tons.
The company services local markets by truck and by barge along the Hudson River using an owned fleet of 116 barges. Last year, New York Trap Rock sold 4.7 million tons of aggregates and had trading profits of £2.5 million on sales of £33 million. The company will be combined with Tilcon New York division - part of CRH's Oldcastle division - which currently produces three million tons of aggregates a year.
The southern New York area is one of the heaviest travelled road routes in the USA. Together with the region's very severe winters, there is heavy expenditure on highways, and on the aggregates produced by New York Trap Rock and Tilcon.
The acquisition was welcomed by the market, as another indication that CRH intended to expand through a series of small to medium-sized acquisitions, avoiding the large acquisitions like Lafarge for Redland and Meyer for Harcros.
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