Australia: Heidelberg Materials Australia has entered into a binding agreement to acquire the construction materials business of Maas Group Holdings, a diversified industrial group listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Maas’s construction materials business is based across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria and employs more than 1000 people. The business controls 22 ready-mix concrete batching plants, a building materials recycling site and 350Mt of aggregates reserves across 40 quarries. The transaction reflects a total enterprise value of US$1.1bn on a cash and debt free basis.

“This acquisition is part of our growth focus combined with a disciplined approach to continuously optimise our portfolio,” said Dr Dominik von Achten, Chair of Heidelberg Materials. “We are taking a significant step to expand our business in Australia, focusing on further improving our aggregates capacity and concrete supply capabilities in a core market. This reflects our commitment to a pure-play strategy as a leading global heavy building materials company.”

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board, together with other customary conditions, such as Maas Group’s shareholder approval. The parties expect to complete the transaction in the second half of 2026.

World: Switzerland-based Sika has launched a concrete admixtures plant in Haines City, Florida, US; a dry mortars plant in Puerto Tirol, Argentina; a mortars, admixtures, adhesives, coatings and finishings plant in Cali, Colombia; a mortars and admixture plant in Narayanganj, Bangladesh and a mortars, admixtures, grouts and grinding aids plant in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Sika noted that the Mwanza plant will serve the Tanzanian domestic market, as well as exporting to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Australia: The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has applied to the Fair Work Commission to establish minimum contract standards for concrete truck drivers. The Australian Financial Review newspaper has reported that the union cited claims that Boral threatened terminations if drivers refused lower terms and conditions.

TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said "Telling your drivers you'll sack them if they don't accept lower terms and conditions is clearly a Hobson's choice and it's unacceptable. These are drivers who perform critical work in transporting concrete for building and construction, and who invest significantly in their businesses."

A Boral spokesperson said the producer is working to ‘modernise outdated contract determinations’ and move to an industry-standard approach, using a model that ‘incentivises uptime and productivity.’

UK: Ready-mix concrete sales fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, by 10% year-on-year, according to the latest data from the Mineral Products Association (MPA). Regionally, London ‘bore the brunt,’ with a record 27% sales drop. The MPA attributed the downturn to continued low levels of residential construction activity, which historically accounted for 30% of national ready-mix concrete consumption. It attributed this to local opposition to new housing and delays to high-rise development due to Building Safety Regulator backlogs, especially in London. Infrastructure activity also ‘tapered off’ during the year, failing to offset the decline. The association said that jobs and future supply capacity are ‘under threat.’

MPA Director of Economic Affairs Aurelie Delannoy said "The prolonged downturn reflects the fragile state of both the UK construction sector and the wider economy, as well as persistently weak investment confidence. These materials are used at the very start of construction projects, and sustained weakness in demand shows Britain is not meeting its commitments to build more homes or speed up the delivery of critical infrastructure."

Executive Chair Chris Leese said "Despite the scale of the political ambition, the 2025 autumn budget fell short on growth and, without swift, decisive action to restore confidence and unlock investment, the UK risks undermining its ability to deliver the housing and infrastructure it needs. When material demand remains this weak for this long, it points to serious delivery failures and growing risks to the UK's domestic supply capacity."