Boral Sells North American Building Products
NORTH SYDNEY, Australia – Boral Limited will sell its North American Building Products business, including major brand names in manufactured and architectural stone, for $2.15 billion to Westlake Chemical Corp.
The transaction, subject to adjustment and regulatory approval, will be finalized by year’s end.
Boral will use the proceeds to reduce its net debt target and for shareholder distribution. The transaction will not result in the payment of any income tax in the United States or Australia, as a result of carried-forward losses.
“This agreement follows an extensive market testing process in which we received strong interest from a broad range of high-caliber potential buyers,” said Boral CEO/Managing Director Zlatko Todorcevski. “Boral has owned and operated building products businesses in the USA for more than 40 years and we recognize and value the contribution that our North American building products’ employees and customers have made to the Boral Group over that time.”
Boral’s holdings in architectural stone include:
Eldorado Stone;
Cultured Stone;
Versetta Stone;
Dutch Quality Stone;
StoneCraft Industries; and
Kindred Stone, a new outdoor-living brand.
Boral acquired stone-veneer manufacturer Cultured Stone from Owens-Corning in a multi-year deal completed in 2014 with a minimum value of $90 million. Boral got Eldorado Stone as part of a $2.6 billion buyout of the Headwaters construction-products company in 2016.
Boral’s other building products include various construction items, including siding, roofing, windows and masonry products under the Meridian Brick brand. A Bloomberg report cited the entire business generated $2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2020.
Houston-based Westlake operates a business portfolio mainly in petrochemicals and polymers, along with PVC-based building products such as pipes, trim, tiles, siding and window/door components offered under the Royal Building Products, DaVinci and NAPCO brands. Westlake recorded $1.4 billion in building-product sales in 2020, making up approximately 18.7% of the company’s total sales.
Boral Limited is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker symbol BLD. Westlake is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol WLK.
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