Turkey: Saint-Gobain has completed the acquisition of Doğaner, a Turkish manufacturer of plaster and wallboard. The company operates a plant with an annual production capacity of 500,000t/yr of plaster and 12MM2/yr of plasterboard, which is located 50km southeast of the Turkish capital Ankara.

In 2010 Doğaner generated revenue of nearly Euro22m and employed 109 people. The acquisition will enable Saint-Gobain's Gypsum Activity to consolidate its position in a large and growing market and to enhance its current product range by offering locally manufactured wallboard.

Australia: Lafarge has announced the sale of its Australian gypsum operations to Knauf for net proceeds of Euro120m.

Lafarge's Australian Gypsum business represents two manufacturing facilities for gypsum wallboard and other compounds along with a national network of distribution and retail centres. In 2010, Lafarge's Australian operations generated EBITDA of Euro13m. The completion of this deal is expected to happen in the third quarter of 2011.

This news follows Lafarge's decision to sell its gypsum interests in Europe and South America to the Belgian Etex Group (announced on 14 July 2011 – read full story here). Under this proposed agreement, Lafarge would receive net cash proceeds of approximately Euro850m and in addition would receive a 20% interest in the new partnership. The partnership would combine the European and South American Gypsum activities of both groups.

Spain: The Uralita Group, which is engaged in the production of gypsum materials including wallboard (as well as insulation panels) has released its annual report, which shows a 94% slump in its net profit to Euro604,000 from Euro10.1m in 2009.

The group's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to sales ratio was down from 12.8% to 11.5%. The result continues a four-year record of positive earnings for the group but several of its other indicators were down, including total debt to net tangible assets (from 110.9% to 115.0%), total liabilities to total assets (up by 1.7% to 0.6) and net tangible assets per share (down 3% to Euro1.29).

World: With Boral's recent acquisition of Sunshine Coast Quarries, the company has spent USD250m in Queensland since April 2011. Boral's head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, Matt Coren, said this move did not necessarily reveal a special focus on the state (or indeed on cement and concrete), saying, "You'll see us continue to invest in other markets."

Boral's recent acquisition spree, along with Coren's comments, has raised speculation that the group may be eyeing up bigger and more lucrative offshore investments. Following the decision by France's Lafarge to sell 80% of its European gypsum assets to Etex Group (announced on 14 July 2011 – read full story here), the spotlight has again swung to the possibility that Boral may be considering the French gypsum and plaster company's Asia-Pacific and North American assets. Boral and Lafarge have an existing joint venture plasterboard business in Asia and it is thought the Australian building group would like to increase its 50% stake or even buy out its partner entirely.

Credit Suisse has indeed recently labeled Boral as the 'natural owner' of Lafarge's remaining gypsum assets. Rohan Gallagher, an analyst with Credit Suisse said that Boral would need to raise equity to do the deal, but expressed doubt that facilities in the United States and Mexico (including six wallboard plants with over 300Mm2/yr wallboard capacity), would not be a wise choice for Boral in the present climate.

Nomura analyst Simon Thackray said that if Boral could increase its stake in the Asian joint venture by a further 10% and purchase a 60% interest in Lafarge's US business the group would need to spend about USD300m, which could be heavily dilutive.