Hanson secure ownership of Pioneer

HANSON have successfully completed their £1.56 billion acquisition of Pioneer International Ltd, creating in the process one of the world's largest heavy building materials groups, the world number one in aggregates and the world's second largest supplier of ready-mixed concrete. The combined business has operations in 21 countries and employs nearly 30,000 staff.

Welcoming Pioneer into Hanson, Andrew Dougal, chief executive of Hanson plc, said: 'This acquisition is a major step forward in our development as a leading global building materials company. We now look forward to integrating the Pioneer business and capitalizing on the many opportunities for further growth that the combined operations will provide.'

Describing Pioneer as an excellent geographic and operational fit, Hanson's chairman, Christopher Collins, added: 'The acquisition of Pioneer increases our market position in the US and the UK. We will also be much stronger in Europe and south-east Asia and will gain a leading position in Australia.'

In the short term, the two companies will be run on a separate but parallel and co-ordinated basis while the organizational structure of the new, integrated company is finalized.

For the year ended 31 December 1999, Hanson reported a pre-tax profit up 21% to £314.3 million on a turnover of £1.9 billion.

Pioneer, meanwhile, reported a net profit before abnormal items of A$222.3 million (c£85 million), up 9.1%, on a turnover of A$3.8 billion (c£1.46 billion) for the 12 months ended 30 June 1999.