European Building Materials: Constructing Ideas

Research evidence excerpt

European Building Materials: Constructing Ideas

to ask us "Don't you think there is a

growing risk of travel and arrive into results now?".

Debates (2): What's going on with all this M&A in the US

Following CRH's ACA acquisition announcement in the prior week, more

US construction M&A news followed with MLM announcing its intention to combine

with lime/stone company Lhoist North America and the WSJ reporting multiple recent

unsolicited bids by CSL to acquire OC. Steven Fisher published his views on MLM deal

here and feedback he received from investors here, and John Lovallo his thoughts on

OC here. We also got a number of questions around the CSL/OC implications for SGO

and KSP, and questions about what might be driving such a flurry of activity in general.

Re the former, we think one implication for both SGO and KSP is that a larger

competitor (across commercial and resi roofing and insulation) is never a "good" thing,

though one investor we spoke to aptly remarked that large mergers of this nature can

also be good opportunities to grab some share. For KSP, there could be some additional

"complexity" in that KSP was reported to have approached CSL for a combination in

2022 to accelerate what is now instead a mostly organic entry into the US commercial

roofing market, and some investors have also wondered if an acquired OC could make

KSP's planned ~2028 resi roofing entry any more difficult.

German reform package a potential positive for construction in 2027/28

The German government positively surprised markets with what UBS Economist Felix

Huefner calls "the most significant structural reform initiative since the fiscal package in

March 2025", a 34-measure reform package focussing on pension reform, income tax

cuts, labour market flexibility and easing of bureaucracy.