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Votorantim Cement acquires North-American Prairie, leader in the concrete and aggregate business in the Great Lakes region Votorantim Cement merges the operations of another company in the United States and intensifies its international activities. The company announces the acquisition of Prairie, one of the largest concrete and aggregate companies in the Middle West of the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, Prairie operates in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin in the Great Lakes region, with 81 concrete centers and 17 mines of aggregates, in addition to deposits and trucks for transporting materials. In 2007, the company produced and traded, in the United States, 5 million m3 of concrete and 6.5 million tons of aggregates. It has nearly 1,800 employees and more than 1,150 concrete mixer trucks. The company is already a customer of Votorantim Cement and purchases more than 60% of the cement produced at the Dixon unit (Illinois). Prairie’s activities will be merged to the assets of the company’s subsidiary in North America, VCNA – Votorantim Cement North America, and operated jointly with St Mary’s Cement, company headquartered in Toronto (Canada) and acquired by Votorantim Cement in 2001, year which market the beginning of Votorantim Group’s internationalization. Votorantim Cement’s CEO Walter Schalka says that merging Prairie’s assets represents a strategic step to the consolidation of Votorantim Cement in the North-American market. “The Great Lakes are a strategic region for the company. With such an acquisition, our leading position in the market shall be strengthened – we currently have a nearly 30% market share. The acquisition also means extending the company’s operations in the entire production chain of the industry of cement, concrete and aggregates in the region, bringing synergies and gains of scale”, says the officer. Currently, Votorantim owns six cement production plants in the region: St Mary’s and Bowmansville, in Ontario, Canada; Charlevoix (Michigan), Detroit (Michigan), Dixon (Illinois) and Badger (Wisconsin). The company also controls many concrete centers and aggregate operations, in addition to managing a logistics system with six ships and 12 cement terminals. With such a structure, the company holds a nearly 30% share in the cement, concrete and aggregate market in the Great Lakes. Votorantim Cement’s businesses in Florida – a cement plant (Suwannee, in Branford) and concrete operations (Trinity Materials and Prestige, the latter acquired in October 2007), in addition to a new plant under construction (Sumter) – represent a 15% share in the local market. Votorantim Cement also announces the construction of a new cement unit in Houston (Georgia), which should be ready in 2010. The plant’s production capacity will be 900,000 tons per year. “Currently, international businesses already account for 30% of Votorantim Cement’s sales results. Our goal is to increase the global share by means of new clusters in strategic regions and the verticalization of operations, focusing on operating on the entire chain of basic building material. The strategy is to pursue the balance of assets among developed and emerging markets, minimizing impacts both from exchange variations and regional volatilities”, concludes Schalka. Prairie Year of foundation: 1948 Market share: Leader in the Middle West of the United States Production: Concrete – 5 million m3/year Aggregates – 6.5 million tons/year Operations: 81 concrete centers and 17 aggregate mines Markets: States of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin Employees: Approximately 1,800 people Assets: More than 1,150 concrete mixer trucks Web: http://www.votorantim.com Professional Affiliations
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