Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Drake acquires four aggregate operations in Phoenix region

Drake Companies announced today the acquisition of four major aggregate reserves in the metropolitan Phoenix area. The company said they have added "long term aggregate holdings with reserves in excess of 70 million tons." “This addition solidifies our long term position as a major construction materials supplier in a region with great growth potential. With our new state-of-the-art cement plant and growing ready mix enterprise, the Drake Companies are uniquely positioned to provide our customers and the Arizona markets a full line of cement, concrete and aggregate products.” CEO Marco Gomez said that the Drake Companies will begin aggregate operations immediately with full integration of assets being complete before the end of 2012. [Right, Drake Materials locations in ]Maricopa and Pinal counties. Credit, Drake Materials]

From our research, we've deduced:

Drake’s Avondale 158 Plant was previously operated by IMix Group LLC

Drake’s Maricopa Plant 157 was previously operated by Gila River Sand and Gravel

Drake’s Sun City Plant 151 may have been either Salt River Sand & Rock or SanMan

Drake’s Queen Creek Plant 161 is located at a cluster of operations so we can't tell if it was one previously operated by Cemex, Southwest Rock Products, Arizona Materials LLC, Arizona Metro Mix or Bebout Concrete

This makes Drake one of the biggest players in the rock products business in Arizona.

The company notes that "The Drake Companies operate in the markets of Arizona and the Southwestern U.S. as Drake Cement, Drake Materials, and Drake Aggregates. Drake Cement unveiled one of North America’s newest and cleanest cement plants in 2011. Drake Materials operates multiple ready mix concrete plants in central Arizona, with additional holdings in the northwest part of the State and the Las Vegas, Nevada area."

[Thanks to Nyal Niemuth in our Phoenix branch for tracking down the likely acquisitions]