Martin Marietta Materials has struck a deal to combine with limestone supplier Lhoist North America in a transaction valued at $13.5 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal would be the largest in the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company’s history.
Martin Marietta is expected to use a mix of $7 billion in cash and $6.5 billion in stock to fund the acquisition, the people said. The transaction could be announced as soon as Monday.
The Berghmans family — the family behind Lhoist Group, a privately held Belgian industrial company founded in 1889 — is expected to own roughly 15% of Martin Marietta upon the deal’s close, according to the people familiar with the matter. Lhoist North America, based in Fort Worth, Texas, extracts, manufactures and supplies lime, limestone and other mineral-based products.
Lime is used across multiple industries including water treatment, agriculture and steel manufacturing. The combined company could benefit from demand tied to data-center construction and semiconductor fabrication in the U.S., the people said.
Martin Marietta specializes in heavy building materials — crushed stone, sand, gravel and asphalt — used in highways, sidewalks and general construction. It also operates a specialty-materials business that produces dolomitic lime. The company’s stock traded at all-time highs in February and has risen over 70% in the past five years. Its market value exceeds $36 billion.
Ward Nye, who has served as Martin Marietta’s chief executive officer since 2010, has used acquisitions — typically small, local bolt-on deals — as part of his strategy to expand the business. The Lhoist acquisition represents a significant step up in scale for the company.
The deal follows other consolidation moves in the building-materials industry. In late 2024, Quikrete Holdings announced an $11.5 billion deal including debt to acquire Summit Materials, bringing together two of the largest U.S. building-materials makers. Home Depot and Lowe’s have also struck deals tied to the building-materials sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a broad measure of U.S. stock market performance, closed at 51,876.11 on the day of the deal’s announcement.