CRH to spend €646m on new acquisition
CRH is to buy Dutch distribution firm Cementbouw for €646m, its largest acquisition to date.
A leading Dutch building materials group, Cementbouw combines distribution and building products operations .
In 2002 it reported operating profit (EBITA) of €73m on sales of €790m, after charging depreciation of €27m.
It is forecast that the dutch firm’s operation would be integrated with CRH’s existing distribution, clay products and concrete products groups.
Commenting on the acquisition, Liam O’Mahony, CRH Chief Executive said: “Our financial capacity to make other acquisitions is strong, and our development teams remain busy; we expect to deliver a further good level of development spend in the remaining five months of the year.”
CRH has also reached conditional agreement to invest a total of €47m for a 45% stake in a leveraged buyout of Cementbouw’s materials operations.
The deal is expected to go through towards the end of 2003.
