Martin Marietta to buy Lhoist North America in $13.5 billion deal

Raleigh-based Martin Marietta Materials is making a $13.5 billion bet on lime and limestone, a move that could strengthen one of Wake County’s largest public companies at a time when construction demand is being shaped by infrastructure spending, data centers, housing and industrial projects. The company said Monday it agreed to buy Lhoist North America in a cash-and-stock transaction that includes debt, setting up a deal that would widen Martin Marietta’s reach well beyond its Triangle headquarters.

Martin Marietta said it expects the acquisition to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. The company plans to fund the deal with about $7 billion in cash and about $6.5 billion in Martin Marietta stock, and it expects about $85 million in annual run-rate cost synergies. Shares fell about 5% in morning trading after the announcement, reflecting investor caution even as the company framed the transaction as part of its SOAR 2030 strategy.

If completed, the deal would make Martin Marietta the nation’s leading lime and limestone franchise and the leading national producer of lime solutions. The company said Lhoist North America brings 20 quarries and production facilities, 45 distribution terminals, $1.8 billion in gross sales and $786 million in adjusted EBITDA in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2025. It also comes with more than 2 billion tons of limestone reserves, which Martin Marietta said represents more than 200 years of useful life.

Those reserves matter because the business serves steel manufacturing, infrastructure, heavy nonresidential construction, environmental and agricultural applications and other industrial markets. That gives Martin Marietta a bigger footprint in sectors tied to long construction cycles and public investment, while also extending the company deeper into markets that tend to move with U.S. development trends.

Morgan Stanley analyst Angel Castillo said the transaction adds complexity but offers a high-quality form of diversification into attractive infrastructure markets. Lhoist’s Berghmans family would own roughly 15% of Martin Marietta after closing, underscoring how much equity the deal brings into the Raleigh company.

For Wake County, the significance goes beyond the balance sheet. Martin Marietta is one of the region’s most visible publicly traded headquarters, and a transaction of this size reinforces the Triangle’s standing as a base for companies that sell into national construction and industrial markets. In a year when building-products dealmaking has accelerated, the move places Raleigh at the center of another large-scale consolidation play.