Gypsum industry news

US: Gypsum Management and Supply Inc (GMS) has made a strategic entrance into the California and Hawaii markets by acquiring San Diego-based J&B Materials Inc and its affiliated Hawaiian operation, Pono Building Materials LLC.

"We are pleased to bring J&B Materials and Pono Building Materials into the GMS family," said Mike Callahan, president of GMS. "Their commitment to delivering exceptional service, knowledgeable personnel and an expansive product suite with a focus on safety fits well within our culture. This partnership provides us with an excellent opportunity to expand our service area into California and Hawaii while enhancing our West Coast coverage."

J&B Materials has locations in El Cajon, Escondido, Riverside and El Centro in California and one in Honolulu, Hawaii. J&B offers a wide variety of building products including wallboard, stucco, lath and plaster and fasteners among others.

Don Taylor, the GMS vice president of operations for the western region, sees the acquisition as a key step in growing the GMS footprint in California and the whole southwestern US. "We feel that J&B, with its exceptional customer relationships and strong brand name, will be a key component to further expansion. With Bob and Jeff Young joining our team, this will give us the additional management depth to continue our growth," said Taylor.

US: Transnational Group Inc has exchanged executed Letters of Intent with Nevada Outdoor School to secure rights to mine gypsum on several claims located in southern Nevada that comprise Mount Vista Gypsum Property. Transnational Group expects the project to yield over 600,000t/yr of gypsum and could begin producing during the third quarter of 2015.

Australia: Boral will repurchase up to US$182m of its shares after a string of divestments bolstered the company's balance sheet. It intends to buy back up to 5%, or about 39 million shares, of its issued capital on-market over the next 12 months.

Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that the completion of a number of transactions, including the US$127m sale of its Western Landfill business in Melbourne to Transpacific Industries, had allowed for the share repurchase.

"This buyback reflects Boral's commitment to efficient capital management and delivering improved returns to shareholders," said Kane. "At the same time, we are maintaining flexibility to respond to changes in market conditions and to take advantage of appropriate growth opportunities that may present in the future." Kane had already flagged acquisitions in Asia and North America and said that Boral was too unbalanced towards Australia.

Boral received US$500m as part of an agreement with USG Corporation to sell half of its Australasian wallboard assets into a joint venture. It is on target to receive further performance-based payments of up to US$57.7m over the next three years.

Boral was reportedly considering a sell-off of its building products division, but indicated it would instead look for savings through cost-reduction programs and joint ventures. A brickmaking joint venture with CSR will proceed after receiving approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, with the expectation of savings of between US$5.39 – 7.69m between Boral and CSR.

US: Gypsum Management and Supply (GMS) has signed an agreement to acquire Ohio Valley Building Products based in Wheeling, West Virginia. Ohio Valley Building Products, which supplies wallboard, ceiling products and insulation services, will be the 34th wholly-owned subsidiary of GMS. The deal marks the strategic entrance of GMS into West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.

"We are excited about the addition of Ohio Valley to the GMS family," said Mike Anderson, vice president of the northeast region. "The greater Pittsburgh/Ohio Valley market has been of key interest to us for years. Eric Bayer and his team will be key to us growing in this market in the future."

"I am very excited to join with GMS," said Eric Bayer, president and owner of Ohio Valley Building Products. "We pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service and that fits well with GMS. We cannot wait to get started."

US: Taishan Gypsum Company Limited, which is a 65% held subsidiary of China National Building Materials' (CNBM) 45.2%-owned subsidiary Beijing New Building Material Public Limited Company (BNBM), has refused to participate in a Judgment Debtor Examination in the United States District Court of Louisiana.

Taishan Gypsum has been ordered to pay US$15,000 in attorney's fees, US$40,000 as a penalty for contempt and has been banned from conducting any business in the US as Taishan Gypsum or via its affiliates or subsidiaries until or unless it participates in the judicial process. If it violates the injunction, it will pay a further penalty of 25% of the profits earned for the year of violation.