A publicly traded construction materials company bought a Wilmington-based firm this month as part of an expansion plan, according to a recent announcement.
Summit Materials Inc. (NYSE: SUM) bought American Materials Co., headquartered at 6131 Oleander Drive in Wilmington, for an undisclosed amount. Summit Materials supplies aggregates, cement, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt in the United States and British Columbia, Canada.
“The acquisition expanded Summit’s geographic reach into the high-growth coastal North and South Carolina markets through [AMC's] five strategically positioned sand and gravel operations, with an estimated 40.5 million tons of combined aggregates reserves,” according to a news release announcing Summit’s fourth-quarter results.
The AMC office on Oleander Drive will remain open, company officials said.
“We are very happy to become part of the Coastal Carolinas business community through the American Materials Company acquisition and we welcome AMC and its employees to the Summit family. AMC will continue to be based in Wilmington, N.C., and we look forward to AMC’s continued growth in this dynamic market,” an emailed statement from Summit Materials said.
Additionally, Hampstead resident Tim Bizzell will remain as president of AMC. Bizzell said this week that AMC was started in 1999 and moved its corporate headquarters to Wilmington in 2007.
Of the five sand and gravel processing plants AMC brings to Summit, one in South Carolina and four in North Carolina, the closest plant to Wilmington is less than 45 miles away in the Sampson County town of Ivanhoe.
“We furnish a big market out of that site,” including Wilmington, Jacksonville and Brunswick County, Bizzell said of the Ivanhoe location.
AMC has about 80 employees in the Carolinas, and being part of a publicly traded company will give them access to more opportunities, Bizzell said.
"It was just a situation that seemed to be a perfect fit," Bizzell said.
In addition to describing the acquisition of American Materials as a highlight in its fourth-quarter report, officials at Summit also pointed out other markers of the company’s progress in the announcement. For example, in 2015, net revenue increased 20.5 percent over 2014, to nearly $1.3 billion, the report said.
“We are pleased with the positive momentum in our business during 2015. The fundamentals in our markets remain quite positive for private construction activity, and we believe we are still in the early stages of the U.S. construction recovery. Additionally, our infrastructure end markets are poised to potentially benefit from the recent passage of the five-year highway bill, the FAST Act, in December 2015. The enhanced visibility of the FAST Act provides a catalyst for states to embark on larger scale and more material-intensive projects,” said Tom Hill, CEO of Summit Materials, in the news release.
