Ireland’s CRH said on Monday it would acquire U.S.-based Arcosa in an all-cash deal valued at about $8.5 billion, bolstering its North American business and expanding its exposure to U.S. infrastructure demand.
CRH is offering $150 per share for Arcosa, representing a 10.4% premium to its Thursday close. Shares of the Dallas, Texas-based Arcosa rose about 8% to $146.
The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, would add quarries, yards, and asphalt plants, as well as infrastructure products used in grid modernization and data center construction.
CRH CEO Jim Mintern said the acquisition positions the company to capitalise on rising demand for U.S. energy and utility infrastructure.
The deal adds to a surge in dealmaking in the U.S. building-products industry as firms seek scale and localized supply chains to mitigate tariffs, with demand buoyed by new housing, repairs and renovations, and non-residential construction.
Earlier this year, QXO struck a $17 billion deal to acquire building products distributor and installer TopBuild. Last year, Commercial Metals Company acquired concrete supplier Foley Products for $1.84 billion.
CRH is a serial dealmaker and has spent $9.1 billion on nearly 80, mainly much smaller, acquisitions over the past two years.
Analysts at Berenberg said CRH may consider spinning off its smaller international division, mainly Europe, as a separate company to become a pure-play North American business.
Its largest previous deal was the €6.5 billion ($7.44 billion) purchase in 2015 of cement assets that European rivals Holcim and Lafarge had to sell ahead of their merger, a transaction that transformed the Dublin-based company into a much bigger player.
CRH said it expects run-rate cost synergies of $175 million by year three and for the deal to be accretive to earnings in the first 12 months post-completion.
Source: Reuters.com