Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/93285
Data U ncertainty continues to characterize the near-term economic outlook and in- hibit stronger growth and job creation. This has been a common theme for this article during the last few years and has been a major reason for the tepid pace of merger and acquisition activity. The November elections and the pending 'fis- cal cliff' have uncertainty at a high in the United States and, together with continued troubles in Europe, lead to economic uncertainty globally. Job creation remains the key to improvement in the construction market, and erosion of consumer and business confidence resulting from the pending 2013 fiscal cliff could result in adverse economic consequences that could slow the recovery process. That said, the elections and fiscal cliff issues will be behind us by the second quarter of 2013, and there appears to be more optimism among U.S. producers that the residential recovery has begun. With MAP-21, there will be certainty for the next two years in the highway sector. Ag- gregates demand should benefit from a recovery in private construction activity and stability in highway funding, which, in turn, will be good for merger and acquisition transactions. Recent transactions Oldcastle Precast, Inc. signed a definitive agree- ment to acquire the assets of Central Precast Concrete, Inc. and U.S. Concrete Precast Group from U.S. Concrete, Inc., which includes six pre- cast concrete operations in California, for $21.3 million. The transaction was expected to close during the third quarter of 2012. George H. Reddin is a principal in FMI's Investment Banking practice. He can be reached at 919-785-9286 or at greddin@fminet.com. Elections and a 'fi scal cliff' loom ahead, but residential recovery continues and plant operations in Irwindale, Calif., from Hanson Structural Precast, Inc. The plant manu- factures and supplies structural and architectural precast components. Clark Pacific Corp., founded in 1963 and based in West Sacramento, Calif., engages in the design, manufacture, and instal- lation of architectural precast building systems in the United States. Other news Clark Pacific Corp. acquired property in Adelanto Cemex won more than 90-percent acceptance of an offer to extend maturities on $7.25 billion of loans by three years. Support for the proposal improves Cemex's efforts to prevent a financing crunch in 2014 by pushing maturities to 2017. Based on acceptance notices from creditors want- ing the new high-yield notes, Cemex anticipates issuing a principal amount of $470 million. AM Stock Report Company Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. CRH plc Eagle Materials Inc. Granite Construction Inc. Heidelberg Cement AG Holcim Ltd. James Hardie Industries SE U.S. On-Highway Diesel Fuel Prices Ticker Current Value CX $7.52 CRG $17.39 EXP $43.19 GVA $28.13 HEI $40.11 HOLN $60.79 JHX $43.47 Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. MLM $75.23 MDU Resources Group, Inc. Texas Industries Inc. MDU $21.82 TXI $43.44 United States Lime & Minerals, Inc. USLM $43.66 Vulcan Materials Co. VMC $37.70 52-Week 52-Week High Low $8.67 $21.05 $43.59 $30.49 $58.86 $66.44 $45.95 $90.57 $23.21 $45.68 $67.40 $48.09 $2.27 $12.66 $15.36 $17.50 $30.06 $44.06 $25.23 $59.93 $18.00 $21.89 $37.31 $25.06 Sources: New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street Journal Market Watch. Currency conversion calculated on 9/4/2012. 32 AGGREGATES MANAGER October 2012 United States East Coast New England Central Atlantic Lower Atlantic Midwest $4.072 Gulf Coast Rocky Mountain West Coast 9/3/2012 One Week One Year $4.127 +0.038 +0.259 $4.104 +0.032 +0.218 $4.194 +0.062 +0.200 $4.153 +0.024 +0.166 $4.051 +0.032 +0.218 +0.022 +0.220 West Coast less California $4.343 +0.055 California $4.493 $4.026 +0.045 +0.226 $4.217 +0.068 +0.327 $4.424 +0.071 +0.443 NA +0.084 +0.445 Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration (dollars per gallon, prices include all taxes).