News

Apr 03, 2024

Oldcastle buys Primex to cover 'the last mile' to the home

Oldcastle Infrastructure, a product division of Dublin-based building materials group CRH plc, acquired Primex Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of plastic enclosures for the communications market

Oldcastle Infrastructure, a product division of Dublin-based building materials group CRH plc, acquired Primex Technologies Inc., a manufacturer of plastic enclosures for the communications market that is based in Langley, British Columbia.

The acquisition fills a gap in the products and services offered by Oldcastle Infrastructure — previously called Oldcastle Precas — according to Serge Boutros, president of enclosures.

"Primex's complementary set of products extends Oldcastle Infrastructure's portfolio to the last mile of fiber-to-the-home," Boutros said in a news release. "We expect Primex to continue operating as per usual, and we look forward to contributing to their continued success."

Founded in 1971, Primex Technologies manufactures enclosures for communications customers across North America and has topped 1 million installations. The company's products include media distribution enclosures made of ABS to manage cable routing. The Wi-Fi transparent plastic offers up to 15 times more wireless signal strength than metal alternatives, according to the Primex website.

The company also sells outside enclosures for copper, coax and fiber, data and voice modules, keystone jacks that provide high-speed data access, and marker clips, splice trays and multiports for fiber.

Primex Technologies officials said the acquisition will allow them to invest in new products and ways to serve mutual customers.

In North America, Oldcastle Infrastructure has a network of more than 80 manufacturing locations for precast concrete and polymer-based products, such as underground vaults, drainage pipe and structures, utility enclosures and modular precast structures for the water, energy, communications, transportation and building structures markets.

"With the support of Oldcastle Infrastructure, we look forward to realizing our aggressive growth plan as we continue to innovate and expand our product line and market reach," Primex Technologies President and CEO Bob Smart said in the release.

Oldcastle Infrastructure has its head office in Atlanta. The business was rebranded from Oldcastle Precast in 2018 to reflect the diversity of its product offerings. Oldcastle Infrastructure is part of CRH's building product division.

CRH's global business is divided into Europe Materials, Americas Material and Building Products, which includes infrastructure products as well as architectural, distribution, building envelope and construction accessories.

CRH plc saw sales increase 6 percent to 26.8 billion euros ($29.7 billion) in 2018, including 13.4 billion euros ($14.9 billion) in its Americas division, which was up 9 percent.

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