U.S. Concrete Inc. has purchased fee-simple property and the underlying royalty agreement associated with the Orca Quarry on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The acquisition includes approximately 1,551 acres in four parcels of previously leased land.
“Since the Polaris Materials acquisition in 2017, our strategic direction has been to grow our aggregates profitability and this acquisition eliminates the royalty agreement which immediately improves our aggregates margin and cash generation,” said Ronnie Pruitt, U.S. Concrete president and chief executive officer. “We take pride in being a disciplined buyer and this purchase provides an extremely attractive multiple. I am confident that Polaris, like all of our aggregates segment expansions, will continue to provide near- and long-term value to our shareholders. Since acquiring Polaris, our efforts in increasing the throughput at our Long Beach terminal, permitting of a new terminal in the Port of Oakland, and expanding through the Black Bear project will support the growth of our supply of high-quality, highly specified material to the aggregates constrained Southern and Northern California markets.”
When U.S. Concrete acquired Polaris Materials Corp. in 2017, the company stated, “The acquisition of Polaris will provide U.S. Concrete with long-term, high-quality aggregate reserves and is expected to deliver meaningful synergies and strengthen the company’s strategic position in the highly attractive, aggregate supply-constrained Californian markets. Following completion of the acquisition, U.S. Concrete expects to have the capability to self-supply a large majority of its market-leading ready-mixed concrete operations’ aggregate requirements in Northern California and to drive increased production volumes at Polaris’ Orca Quarry.”