Breedon complete £178 million CEMEX UK assets purchase

Construction materials group announces acquisition of 100 CEMEX sites but deal is still being probed by competition watchdog

BREEDON Group, one of the UK’s largest independent aggregates firms, have completed their planned acquisition of certain assets and operations from CEMEX UK.

Breedon announced the £178 million deal with their rival building materials firm in January, but the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has since launched an ongoing inquiry into the move.

CEMEX's UK assets consist of 49 ready-mixed concrete plants, 28 aggregate quarries, four depots, one cement terminal, 14 asphalt plants and four concrete products operations, located in Scotland, Wales, north-east England, Norfolk, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

The CMA has instructed that these assets should be held separate from Breedon until it has completed its Phase 1 investigation. Accordingly, the assets will be operated as Pinnacle Construction Materials – a newly-created ring-fenced business led by an independent management team and operating from its own offices.

The deadline for the CMA to announce its decision on whether to refer the merger for a Phase 2 investigation is on or before 26 August 2020.

Following the conclusion of the CMA’s investigation, which could still take several months, and subject to the outcome of that investigation, Breedon said they expect the active assets to be incorporated into their UK business.