Gypsum industry news
Lone Star Funds considering acquisition of Boral
18 October 2019Australia: US-based private equity company Lone Star Funds is considering acquiring Boral, according to the Australian newspaper. Lone Star Funds purchased building materials manufacturer Forterra from Heidelberg Cement. Boral later formed a joint venture with Forterra Brick in the US in 2016. In a separate deal Lone Star Funds later purchased German building materials producer Xella. Despite growing revenue from continuing operations, Boral’s net profit after tax fell by 7% year-on-year to US$301m in the year to 30 June 2019.
Lone Star Funds to sell stake in Continental Building Products through secondary offering
14 September 2015US: Lone Star Funds has agreed to sell 4 million shares of common stock in Continental Building Products (CBP) through an underwritten secondary offering. Based on the closing price of CBP's common stock on 9 September 2015, the offering is valued at approximately US$85.2m. The underwriter has a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of common stock from the selling stockholder. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is acting as the underwriter for the offering, which is expected to close on 16 September 2015.
US: Continental Building Products (CBP) has announced the launch of a secondary public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock to be offered by the company's largest stockholder, an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. The underwriters will have a 30-day option from the date of the offering to purchase up to an additional 1,050,000 shares of common stock from the selling stockholder. CBP will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares.
US: Lafarge has announced that is preparing the sale of its North American gypsum business to US private equity firm Lone Star in a deal worth an enterprise value of US$700m.
Lafarge North America's Gypsum division manufactures gypsum wallboards and joint compounds throughout a network of plants in the United States and Canada, including three US gypsum wallboard plants. In 2012, these operations generated sales of US$310m. The assets have been held for sale in the Lafarge's consolidated balance sheet since 2011.
This transaction, which is expected to close very soon, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Global building materials producer Lafarge reduced its net debt by Euro700m in 2012 to Euro11.3bn. It sold the majority of its worldwide gypsum business – in Asia, Europe, South America and Australia – to Boral and Etex in 2011. Lafarge retains a 20% stake in the joint venture with Etex.
