UK brick giant Hanson sold to US private equity

ONE OF Britain’s biggest producers of clay bricks has been sold by its German owner to private equity buyers as part of a deal worth $1.4 billion (£900 million).

Hanson is one of Britain's biggest producers of clay bricks. Picture: Contributed

Hanson Building Products, which has been owned by Heidelberg Cement since 2007, employs nearly 1,500 people at 18 production sites in the UK, including at nine brick plants.

The sale of the UK business to US private equity firm Lone Star is part of a wider deal that includes extensive operations in North America. Overall, Hanson Building Products employs 4,621 people at 107 factories.

The remainder of Hanson, including operations in aggregates, asphalt and cement, will remain part of the German group.

The deal is expected to conclude in the first quarter of next year.

Hanson was bought by Heidelberg Cement for £8bn in 2007, having been built into a multi-national success story in the 1970s and 1980s by founder Lord Hanson, who died in 2004, and his business partner, Lord White.

Among the UK building division’s products are the Thermalite brand of aircrete blocks, as well as block paving, precast concrete products and structural cladding systems.