Hanson buy four German quarries

HANSON Quarry Products Europe (HQPE) have announced the acquisition of all the quarrying assets of German company ROBA Baustoff GmbH for an undisclosed sum. ROBA have quarrying, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete operations throughout Germany and form part of the Walther Group, one of the country's largest construction and contracting companies.

The quarrying assets concerned comprise two limestone quarries at Lhoma and Plaue in Thuringia, and two sand and gravel quarries at Merseburg and Drahnsdorf in Saxony. The four sites have a combined output of over 1 million tonnes of aggregates a year and have planned reserves of 26 million tonnes, with a further 44 million tonnes of high-quality plannable reserves.

Simon Vivian, chief executive of HQPE, said: 'The ROBA quarries are an excellent fit with the RENA operations in eastern Germany we acquired last year and we expect significant synergy benefits to emerge from the RENA/ROBA combination.'

RENA have three limestone and two gravel quarries within a 40-mile radius of Erfurt, capital of Thuringia. The quarries have over 80 million tonnes of reserves and an annual output of around 2.2 million tonnes.

Hanson's operations throughout Germany were increased further this year with the acquisition of Pioneer, which added 31 ready-mixed concrete plants and one limestone quarry.

As part of the latest acquisition deal, an aggregates agreement has been negotiated for a number of ROBA's ready-mixed concrete plants. Hanson will also supply a number of their own recently acquired concrete plants, creating further synergy benefits.