Breedon in talks to acquire Lagan Group

UK-based construction materials company, Breedon Aggregates, is reportedly looking to acquire all or parts of Lagan Group, a leading building materials company based in Ireland. The Lagan Group currently includes Lagan Cement, which has a production capacity of 700,000tpa, two bitumen terminals in Dublin and Belfast, road marking, quarry and concrete businesses. It is also involved in the manufacture of bricks, blocks and timber frames for the housing sector. In the UK its assets include Welsh Slate, Whelan Quarries and a housebuilding subsidiary.

Breedon already runs an asphalt joint venture with Lagan subsidiary Whitemountain, which reportedly won a lucrative road project in Scotland in 2016.

While it is unclear at this stage which parts of Lagan Breedon is interested in acquiring, Lagan Construction Group is not believed to be part of the talks. Any deal, however, would give Breedon a significant position in the Irish building materials market.

According to the Times Newspapers, the entire Lagan Group's value is believed to run to several hundred million pounds. Breedon currently runs the UK's largest cement plant, two cement import terminals, around 60 quarries, 26 asphalt plants, 200 ready-mixed concrete and mortar plants, and three concrete block plants. In 2016, it completed its largest acquisition to date – the GBP336m (US$471m) purchase of Hope Construction Materials.