US private equity giant Blackstone has bought CRH's European distribution arm, which the Irish construction supplies giant put up for sale earlier this year, for €1.64bn. US private equity giant Blackstone has bought CRH's European distribution arm, which the Irish construction supplies giant put up for sale earlier this year, for €1.64bn. The business is made up of CRH's entire general builders merchants business in Europe, including its sanitary heating and plumbing business. The deal for CRH's European distribution business would provide Blackstone a potential platform in the building materials sector from which it would likely look to become a consolidator. CRH's bigger European distribution business had core earnings of €181m last year, which at a multiple of 11 times implies a valuation of about €2bn.

Source: Irish Independent July 16, 2019 06:11 UTC