Under the deal, valued at £16.5m, Breedon will hand 27 ready-mix concrete plants to Tarmac with a £4.9m cash payment for the quarries and an asphalt plant. 

The deal is subject to rubber stamping  by the Competition & Markets Authority.

Quarries being exchanged are located in Scotland, Cumbria and North Wales, together with a quarry and asphalt plant in West Wales.

Ready-mixed concrete operations being offloaded from Breedon’s network of 200 plants are in multiple locations extending from Dumfries in Scotland to Exeter in Devon. 

The deal is in line with Breedon’s strategy of expanding its aggregates portfolio, in this case adding approximately 25 million tonnes to its mineral reserves and resources, and boosting asphalt capacity.

Pat Ward, Breedon’s Group Chief Executive, said: “This deal brings significant benefits: it adds to our reserve base; it is margin-enhancing; it releases value from peripheral readymix plants; and it will enable us to replace third-party aggregates providers with our own sources of supply.

“It is also a great example of how we can work with our larger peers – in this case CRH, one of the world’s most successful global building materials companies – to benefit customers and other stakeholders on both sides.”