June 29 (Reuters) – Martin Marietta Materials said on Monday it would merge with limestone supplier Lhoist North America in a cash-and-stock deal worth $13.5 billion, as the building material firm looks to tap growing demand for lime products.
Shares of the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company were down about 3% in premarket trade.
Martin Marietta will use a mix of $7 billion in cash along with shares valued at $6.5 billion to fund the deal, the company said. It expects to realize about $85 million in annual run-rate cost synergies.
Martin Marietta CEO Ward Nye said demand for high-quality lime products is expected to remain resilient for decades to come, due to investment in infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, energy development and industrial expansion in the U.S.
There has been a surge in dealmaking in the U.S. building-products industry as the data center construction business booms, along with new housing, repairs and renovations.
Last week, Ireland’s CRH said it would acquire Arcosa in an all-cash deal valued at about $8.5 billion, in a bid to capitalize on rising demand for U.S. energy and utility infrastructure.
Lhoist’s Berghmans family – which owns the privately held Lhoist Group, a Belgian industrial company – would own roughly 15% of Martin Marietta upon the deal’s close.
The transaction would add quarries, production facilities, distribution terminals and 2 billion tons of limestone reserves in Sun Belt metropolitan corridors to Martin Marietta’s portfolio.
Lhoist North America makes hi-calcium lime, dolomitic lime and industrial mineral products used in domestic steel manufacturing, infrastructure and heavy non-residential construction across North America.
The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Devika Syamnath)
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