Cravath Swaine & Moore and Latham & Watkins have landed roles on the $13.5bn merger of Martin Marietta Materials and Lhoist North America, as the building materials firm looks to capitalise on growing demand for lime products.
Cravath is advising Martin Marietta on the cash-and-stock deal alongside French firm Bredin Prat, with Cravath's team led out of New York by global M&A co-chair Robert Townsend and corporate partners Matthew Jones and Maria Ricaurte.
Earlier this year, the trio of partners advised Martin Marietta on its acquisition of Missouri-based building materials supplier New Frontier Materials, and between them, they have guided the company in numerous past deals, including its exchange of assets with Quikrete and the sale of its South Texas cement business to CRH.
Meanwhile, Latham is advising Lhoist North America's parent company, Belgium's Lhoist Group, on the merger, with the team led by Paris corporate partners Pierre-Louis Cléro and Thomas Forschbach alongside Chicago corporate partners Christopher Drewry and Max Schleusener.
Lhoist North America produces lime products that Ward Nye, Martin Marietta's CEO, said were expected to remain in demand for "decades to come" as the US "continues to invest in infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, energy development and industrial expansion".
The deal will add quarries, production facilities, distribution terminals and more than two billion tons of limestone reserves in Sun Belt metropolitan corridors to Martin Marietta's portfolio.
It will also make Lhoist Group's owners, the Berghmans family, Martin Marietta’s largest single shareholder, with representation on its board of directors.
Big Law firms have been capitalising on a surge of deals in the US building-products industry, driven by massive federal infrastructure funding and a surge in non-residential megaprojects like data centres and renewable energy plants.
Kirkland & Ellis is guiding Irish building materials giant CRH on its $8.5bn acquisition of peer Arcosa, announced earlier this month. Arcosa is being counselled by Gibson Dunn and Baker Botts.
Earlier this year, QXO struck a $17bn deal to acquire building products distributor and installer TopBuild, advised by Paul Weiss and Jones Day, respectively. And last year, Akin advised Commercial Metals Company on its $1.9bn acquisition of concrete supplier Foley Products, counselled by Foley & Lardner.
Martin Marietta will use $7bn in cash along with shares valued at $6.5bn to fund the merger, the company said. It expects to realise around $85m in annual run-rate cost synergies.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Goldman Sachs & Co is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Martin Marietta, and GS’s affiliates, Goldman Sachs Bank USA and Goldman Sachs Lending Partners provided fully committed debt financing. BNP Paribas, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Rothschild & Co are serving as financial advisors to Lhoist Group.
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