CRH PLC (LON:CRH) has finally reached an agreement to acquire Ash Grove Cement Company for a total consideration of US$3.5bn, gaining its shareholders’ approval after a rival bid failed to materialise.
The FTSE 100-listed Irish building materials group said the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in late 2017 or early 2018.
READ: CRH shares fall after bid target Ash Grove Cement says has received higher rival takeover proposal
CRH had announced on October 5 that it had reached an agreement to acquire Ash Grove - which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas - but the US firm then extended the period for obtaining shareholder approval after receiving another unsolicited competing acquisition proposal.
But the rival bid, pitched at US$3.7bn-$3.8bn and reported to be from Summit Materials – a US construction firm set up in 2009 by former CRH executives - failed to materialise.
CRH said in a statement on Monday that it will provide further details of the takeover as part of its trading update on November 21.
Ash Grove - the fifth largest cement manufacturer in the US - operates eight cement plants across eight states, combined with extensive ready mixed concrete, aggregates and associated logistics assets across the US Midwest.
CRH, which is already North America's biggest maker of concrete products and second largest supplier of aggregate materials for construction, said it wanted to acquire Ash Grove to add extensive ready-mixed concrete, aggregates and logistics assets.