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[March 2005]
Hanson Acquires Thermalite
Hanson PLC has acquired Thermalite, the UK manufacturer and supplier of aircrete lightweight concrete blocks, from Etex Group SA for a cash consideration of ?120 million (subject to a post completion working capital adjustment).
Thermalite is described as the UK market leader in aircrete blocks with production facilities located in Newbury, West Thurrock and Sutton Coldfield supported by two distribution centres and a sales office. Annual production exceeds one million cubic metres of aircrete blocks and the company employs approximately 390 people. In the year to 31 December 2004, Thermalite generated EBITDA of ?17.7 million (before allocation of overhead cost shared with other Etex UK operations).
Thermalite will be integrated into Hanson Building Products UK, which is one of the UK's leading suppliers of clay bricks, clay pavers, concrete blocks, bagged aggregates and pre-cast concrete flooring. The acquisition will significantly expand the concrete products range, following the recent expansion of the company's brick operations through the ?65 million acquisition of Marshalls Clay Products in January.
David Szymanski, Managing Director of Hanson Building Products UK, said: "We are very pleased to be acquiring Thermalite. It is a natural fit with our existing block operations and we look forward to opportunities to develop additional production capacity in the UK market".
ENDS