Vulcan Materials Co. has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Polaris Materials Corp., an aggregates and logistics company that serves key California markets from strategically situated operations in British Columbia, Canada. The Polaris business includes a high-capacity aggregates processing plant and deep water port on Vancouver Island along with associated long-term aggregate reserves and five distribution yard outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Long Beach, Calif.
“We are very pleased to have reached agreement to acquire Polaris Materials, which is expected to further enhance our ability to serve major California markets,” said Vulcan’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Hill. “With this acquisition, we are continuing to build on our industry-leading position in the state of California. Polaris has assembled high quality aggregate reserves that will further expand our product offerings, particularly for certain concrete applications, as well as our geographic coverage in markets in the San Francisco and Los Angeles metro areas. This acquisition will enhance our logistics capabilities with the ship delivery of aggregate products and provide Vulcan with a platform for future distribution outlet opportunities along the Pacific Coast. The acquisition is especially timely given California’s recent passage of SB1, which will provide $52 billion for key transportation infrastructure projects over the next ten years, in addition to passage of local ballot measures that add more than $1 billion annually for infrastructure projects in key growth markets that we serve.”
The transaction will be subject to approval by Polaris Materials’ security holders, approval by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and other customary closing conditions. Subject to obtaining the required approvals, the transaction is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“With Polaris celebrating its 10-year anniversary of operations at the Orca quarry this year, we recognize our First Nations partners, employees, customers, service providers and other stakeholders as instrumental in creating this exceptional construction materials company. The unique strategic merits of our company have been recognized by Vulcan, and this transaction provides significant value to Polaris shareholders today, while positioning our business to provide long term benefits to our partners and opportunities for growth in the future, ” said Ken Palko, president and CEO of Polaris.
“The Special Committee and the board of directors of Polaris is pleased to provide its recommendation to support the agreement with Vulcan, and following a rigorous process of evaluating alternatives believe that this transaction is the best avenue to unlock the underlying value that has been created by the hard work of the Polaris team,” said Terry Lyons, chairman of the board of directors of Polaris.
Polaris Materials Corp., headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a supplier of high quality construction aggregates to major coastal markets in California and British Columbia. The company developed an integrated logistical chain of mineral resources, receiving port terminals and cost-effective, contracted shipping that allows it to meet the need for replacement aggregate sources in markets where local resources are depleting and marine imported aggregates offer an increasingly viable alternative.