Herndon, Va.-based Lafarge North America announced in early July that it has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Lafarge Florida Inc. to Jacksonville-based Florida Rock Industries, Inc. The operations consist primarily of two cement grinding and import facilities — one located in Tampa and the other in Port Manatee. The announced purchase price is about $122 million. Net sales in 2002 associated with the Lafarge operations were about US$89 million, with product volumes about roughly 1.2 million tons.

Although Lafarge is maintaining control of its 37,000-ton-capacity import/export terminal in Jacksonville, Fla., company President and CEO Philippe Rollier said, “As a stand-alone import operation, Lafarge Florida's long-term strategic fit in our overall portfolio is limited, and we believe this is an appropriate time for us to divest.”

Florida Rock operates a single plant in Newberry with an annual capacity of about 750,000 tons of cement. This purchase could change the company's status from simply a cement producer to an import/export player in the competitive Florida market.