Lafarge to sell assets in Georgia

Lafarge has signed binding agreements to sell six aggregates quarries in Georgia, USA. The assets, which accounted for less than 1% of the company’s sales in North America in 2011, will fetch a value of US$160 million. The transactions are subject to the necessary approvals.

The announcement is in line with Lafarge’s plan to focus on promising regions. In North America, the firm currently operates nine cement and grinding plants, as well as associated cement terminals, with a total capacity of 11 million t. These are largely located in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River regions, where Lafarge also runs aggregates and concrete operations. The transaction follows the company’s announcement in September 2012 that Eagle Materials, Inc. was to acquire a range of its US assets for US$446 million. This included Lafarge’s Sugar Creek cement plant, Missouri, and Tulsa cement plant, Oklahoma, which have a cement production capacity of 1.6 million t between them, as well as two aggregate quarries, six distribution terminals, eight ready-mix concrete plants and its flyash business.

Elsewhere, Lafarge has embarked on new ventures, including the recently announced joint venture with Elementia, in which the two companies are to combine their cement assets in Mexico. In the UK, Lafarge Tarmac, a 50:50 joint venture with Anglo American, began trading this week.

Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/10012013/cement_lafarge_aggregates_quarries_sale_usa_822/