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Sugar Creek, MO —
The Lafarge cement plant in Sugar Creek, one of the area’s larger employers, is getting a new owner.
Lafarge on Wednesday announced the sale of the plant to Eagle Materials. Eagle is buying the Sugar Creek plant and one in Tulsa, Okla., for $446 million. Lafarge also is selling its ready-mix concrete and aggregates operations in Kansas City.
Lafarge said current employees will be kept on by Eagle.
Joelle Lipski-Rockwood, U.S. director of communications for Lafarge, said the company is focusing on its operations mainly in the Mississippi River area.
“We’re just concentrating on strengthening other areas of our operation right now,” she said.
The move means a reduction in capacity for Lafarge. The Sugar Creek and Tulsa plants can turn out 1.6 million tons of cement annually. Now the company, based in Reston, Va., will have nine remaining cement or grinding plants, with a capacity of 11 million tons.
It’s a big step up for Eagle, which is increasing its capacity by 60 percent. These two cement plants will bring it to a total of six. The company says it’s been looking to add cement and aggregates plants in places that connect with current markets without overlapping its current plants. The Sugar Creek and Tulsa plants would serve the south central United States.
The company says it sees a couple of areas of growth: a rebound in construction nationwide and, as the domestic energy market continues to grow, increased demand for specialty oil well cement and “northern white frac sand.”
Eagle, based in Dallas, makes basic building materials for residential, industrial, commercial and infrastructure construction, and in oil and gas production. Mainly it makes cement and gypsum wallboard. Its four business segments include gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. Another is cement, meaning it mines limestone and uses that to make Portland cement, the essential binding ingredient in concrete. That’s what the Sugar Creek plant does. The fourth segment is concrete and aggregates, distributing ready-mix concrete.
The company says that in fiscal year 2012, net sales were $495 million – 31 percent from cement, 44 percent from gypsum wallboards, 16 percent from recycled paperboard, and 9 percent from concrete and aggregates.
The deal was signed Monday and announced Wednesday. The sale needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in November or December.
The Lafarge cement plant in Sugar Creek, one of the area’s larger employers, is getting a new owner.
Lafarge on Wednesday announced the sale of the plant to Eagle Materials. Eagle is buying the Sugar Creek plant and one in Tulsa, Okla., for $446 million. Lafarge also is selling its ready-mix concrete and aggregates operations in Kansas City.
Lafarge said current employees will be kept on by Eagle.
Joelle Lipski-Rockwood, U.S. director of communications for Lafarge, said the company is focusing on its operations mainly in the Mississippi River area.
“We’re just concentrating on strengthening other areas of our operation right now,” she said.
The move means a reduction in capacity for Lafarge. The Sugar Creek and Tulsa plants can turn out 1.6 million tons of cement annually. Now the company, based in Reston, Va., will have nine remaining cement or grinding plants, with a capacity of 11 million tons.
It’s a big step up for Eagle, which is increasing its capacity by 60 percent. These two cement plants will bring it to a total of six. The company says it’s been looking to add cement and aggregates plants in places that connect with current markets without overlapping its current plants. The Sugar Creek and Tulsa plants would serve the south central United States.
The company says it sees a couple of areas of growth: a rebound in construction nationwide and, as the domestic energy market continues to grow, increased demand for specialty oil well cement and “northern white frac sand.”
Eagle, based in Dallas, makes basic building materials for residential, industrial, commercial and infrastructure construction, and in oil and gas production. Mainly it makes cement and gypsum wallboard. Its four business segments include gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. Another is cement, meaning it mines limestone and uses that to make Portland cement, the essential binding ingredient in concrete. That’s what the Sugar Creek plant does. The fourth segment is concrete and aggregates, distributing ready-mix concrete.
The company says that in fiscal year 2012, net sales were $495 million – 31 percent from cement, 44 percent from gypsum wallboards, 16 percent from recycled paperboard, and 9 percent from concrete and aggregates.
The deal was signed Monday and announced Wednesday. The sale needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in November or December.
