CMA welcomes Breedon sale

Authority approves sale of asphalt plant at Tom’s Forest in Aberdeen area to Lafarge Tarmac

THE Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has welcomed the sale of the former Breedon asphalt plant at Tom’s Forest in the Aberdeen area to Lafarge Tarmac.

Following its inquiry into Breedon’s acquisition of a package of assets from Aggregate Industries in 2014, the CMA required Breedon to sell an asphalt plant in the Aberdeen area and a ready-mixed concrete plant in the Peterhead area to an operator approved by the Authority.

As Breedon and Aggregate Industries were previously competitors for many of these products across north-east Scotland, the CMA found that asphalt customers in Aberdeen and Inverness, as well as ready-mixed concrete customers in Peterhead, could have faced higher prices due to the loss of competition and lack of alternative suppliers.

Breedon sold the Peterhead ready-mixed concrete plant to Leiths earlier this year.

The company could also have faced a price control for asphalt produced in the Inverness area had it continued to occupy and operate the asphalt plants at both Daviot and Mid Lairgs. However, Breedon ceased to occupy or operate the asphalt plant at Mid Lairgs in 2014, so the potential price-control remedy will not be necessary.

The CMA assessed and approved both Leiths and Lafarge Tarmac as appropriate purchasers of the sites in question.