Industry News

Mergers & Acquisitions

Centennial Aggregate acquires Cinderlite

Centennial Aggregate Inc., a subsidiary of Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction Inc., has acquired Cinderlite Trucking Corp.

Founded in 1986, Cinderlite is a Carson City, Nevada-based construction materials, landscape supply and transportation company operating five aggregate yards and one recycling yard in and around Carson City. The company also has an aggregate transportation business with an established fleet of trucks and drivers.

“I am happy to announce the acquisition of Cinderlite,” Granite President and CEO Kyle Larkin says. “It is a great construction materials business that is aligned with our home market strategy in the busy northern Nevada construction landscape. This acquisition shows that we remain focused on identifying transactions that will immediately contribute to the bottom line.”

The deal will support Granite’s existing operations in northern Nevada. The company estimates the acquisition will increase its materials reserves by adding about 100 million tons of aggregate resources and an annual production volume of approximately 975,000 tons.

In August, Granite Construction acquired Warren Paving of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Papich Construction of Arroyo Grande, California, increasing its aggregate reserves and resources by approximately 30 percent, adding more than 440 million tons, and increasing annual aggregate production by approximately 27 percent with the addition of over 5 million tons.

“The Cinderlite transaction is in line with our capital allocation strategy and supports sustainable, long-term value creation for our shareholders,” Granite Chief Financial Officer Staci Woolsey says. “We will continue to leverage our cash generation and credit facility to execute high-quality acquisitions.”

Demolition

Total Wrecking oversees Louisiana implosion

Total Wrecking & Environmental, a Buffalo, New York-based environmental and demolition contractor, has carried out the implosion of a boiler structure and 525-foot emissions stack at the Dolet Hills Power Station in the city of Mansfield, Louisiana.

The company says the implosion is the most visible and dramatic phase of the decommissioning and site redevelopment effort tied to the former coal-fired, 650-megawatt plant, which was decommissioned in 2021 after more than 30 years of activity.

The 12-story boiler building and 525-foot chimney stack structures were imploded Oct. 6.

“These structures will be safely felled using high-precision, engineered explosive techniques to minimize environmental impact and ensure public safety,” Total Wrecking said in a statement prior to the blast. “Law enforcement, emergency personnel and environmental monitors will be on-site to manage safety zones and observe best practices.”

Preimplosion steps included dismantling the turbine buildings, lignite silos, cooling towers and conveyor systems as well as the demolition of auxiliary structures at the site, including all fuel and chemical tanks.

In addition to considerable metals recycling, Total Wrecking says concrete from demolished structures will be crushed and reused on-site as backfill during final grading operations.

Also part of the project will be what Total Wrecking refers to as responsible environmental remediation, including asbestos abatement, removal of residual waste and the safe closure of underground utilities.

Some asbestos-containing materials, such as gaskets and pipe insulation, will be removed by licensed abatement sub-contractors, while oils, residual lignite coal and materials categorized as universal waste are being handled in accordance with best practices to ensure long-term site safety, Total Wrecking says.

Some forms of infrastructure, including the rail switchyard and a warehouse, will remain intact for use in the redeveloped solar energy site.

The power plant site owners are Pineville, Louisiana-based Cleco Power LLC and Shreveport, Louisiana-based Southwestern Electric Power Co., a business unit of Ohio’s American Electric Power.

Materials, Mergers & Acquisitions

Ara Partners acquires Microtec to advance concrete decarbonization efforts

Houston-based Ara Partners has purchased Microtec Development & Holdings LLC, Naples, Florida, to accelerate the rollout of Microtec’s commercial application, AggrePlex, across the U.S. and internationally.

“Ara Partners’ investment marks a transformative milestone for Microtec and AggrePlex,” says Anthony Cialone, president and founder of Microtec. “With Ara’s capital and expertise in industrial project development, construction and decarbonization, we can rapidly scale our patented mechanochemical activation and micronization technology. This enables significant reductions in concrete-related emissions and creates a circular solution for our industrial and municipal partners.”

Microtec’s AggrePlex focuses on recycling end-of-life glass into ground glass pozzolan for concrete.

AggrePlex says it will leverage Microtec’s patented Turbo Mill technology, which Microtec says is proven at scale with more than 250 mills operating globally, to produce PozzoDyne activated ground glass pozzolan (AGGP).

“PozzoDyne AGGP represents the next generation of high-performance, low-carbon construction materials,” AggrePlex President and CEO Tim Kuebler says, adding that the solution “meets the rigorous performance requirements of infrastructure and industrial applications while significantly lowering the carbon footprint.”

PozzoDyne, produced with approximately 94 percent lower carbon intensity than traditional cement manufacturing, meets standards for durability, performance, strength and sustainability, including those established under ASTM C1866 and C618, Microtec says.

“AggrePlex’s AGGP product addresses all the critical drivers for adoption—cost competitiveness, superior performance and a lower carbon footprint,” Microtec Executive Chairman David Haughie says. “With Ara as our partner, we are positioned to execute tangible, economically viable decarbonization, starting with the construction and concrete industries and expanding to additional sectors.”

According to Microtec, when scaled across AggrePlex’s planned U.S. facilities, PozzoDyne will avoid more than 550,000 metric tons of CO₂e annually.

“We are committed to backing decarbonization leaders with the ability to scale quickly and deliver measurable results at commercially competitive pricing against the incumbent fossil-based industry,” says Christopher Picotte, partner at Ara Partners.

He adds, “Microtec’s proprietary and proven milling technology has extraordinary potential across many waste-to-value applications.”