US: Heidelberg Materials North America has acquired a minority stake in precast concrete elements producer AmeriTex Pipe & Products. AmeriTex Pipe & Products supplies pipes, box culverts and other precast concrete products in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas. The companies also concluded a long-term materials supply agreement.

Heidelberg Materials North America CEO Chris Ward called the move the ‘latest step in optimising our portfolio to further strengthen our business in key growth markets such as Texas.’

South Korea: Sampyo Industrial has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two D&B Group architecture firms – D&B Architects Office and D&B Partners Architects Office – for increased design-phase specification of its Bluecon Winter cold-weather ready-mix concrete. The parties will pursue a specification-in strategy to incorporate Bluecon Winter concrete into technical specifications from the early design phase and strengthen systematic quality control throughout the construction management phase. The strategy will target educational facility bidding and the design competition market.

Bluecon Winter concrete achieves compressive strengths of 5MPa within 36 hours, without additional curing, at air temperatures as low as -20°C.

D&B Group said "In both public and private construction markets, including educational facilities, adhering to project timelines and preventing safety accidents at winter sites are paramount."

US: The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has stipulated that Taiheiyo Cement subsidiary CalPortland must sell three ready-mix concrete plants in San Diego, California, in order to be allowed to proceed with a planned US$712m acquisition of ready-mix concrete assets from Vulcan Materials. Concrete, aggregates and asphalt producer Holliday Rock would in turn acquire the former CalPortland assets.

DOJ Antitrust Division Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi said "The Division's pursuit of structural remedies in this case provides a signal to the broader market about how to structure transactions that deliver efficiency to the market while protecting competition that benefits consumers."

China: Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has welcomed the news that the concrete batching plant at 6 Tung Yuen Street, Yau Tong, will cease operations from the middle of June 2026, bringing concrete production in the area to a close. This according to the EPD, is of significant importance to improving the air quality of the district.

An EPD spokesperson said that the plant's specified process licence had expired on 23 August 2025, but that it had originally submitted a licence renewal application, enabling it to remain in operation until the new licence is refused. The plant has been winding down production, having liaised closely with the EPD in anticipation of the new licence being refused.