The ltalcementi Group continues to strengthen its international presence with two new acquisitions, in the USA and Kuwait, for an overall value of approximately 50 million dollars.

In the USA, Essroc, a company controlled by the Ciments Français subholding, has purchased Crider & Shockey, a company active in North Virginia, a further step in the vertical integration underway in the ready mixed concrete business in North America. The latest development follows the acquisitions in 2007 of Arrow, a leading ready mixed concrete producer in West Virginia, and Cambridge, active in the area west of Toronto, in Canada, for an aggregate value of approximately 70 million dollars.
In the last three years, on an average annual production of approximately 250,000 m3, Crider & Shockey reported average annual EBITDA of 6.5 million dollars.

The second acquisition is by the Hilal Cement Company, a Group subsidiary since August 2007 listed on the Kuwait City stock exchange, which has closed the purchase of Kuwait German Ready Mix, a ready mixed concrete producer with average annual production of 140,000 m3 in the last three years and average annual EBITDA of more than 1.5 million dollars. The new acquisition marks the start of a vertical integration process in Kuwait, after the Group’s purchase in August 2007 of a 51% shareholding in the Hilal Cement Company. Hilal Cement manages two cement import terminals in southern Kuwait, for a total capacity of approximately 1 million metric tons/year.