Oct. 6, 2017 – The CRH-Ash Grove merger just took a fresh turn. The company provided an update regarding the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger with CRH plc, under which CRH plc would acquire Ash Grove. Ash Grove has now announced that it has received a preliminary, non-binding competing proposal from a third party to acquire Ash Grove at an indicated enterprise value of $3.7 billion to $3.8 billion. The suitor is rumored to be Summit Materials. “The board of directors of Ash Grove has determined that such proposal could reasonably be expected to result in a superior proposal and has determined to engage with such third party regarding its proposal,” the company said. If this deal goes through, this would be the second merger change-of-plans in recent months. Polaris was originally slated to be acquired by Vulcan Materials, but that deal was superceded by an offer from U.S. Concrete.