Greene County cement plant has new owner

Dallas-based Eagle Materials said the purchase is part of the company’s growth strategy.

“Our strategy has been to grow the cement side of our business,” Dave Powers, Eagle Materials president and chief executive, said in his company’s release. “The Fairborn plant extends our U.S. cement system and connects but does not overlap with the market reach of our existing plants. This high-quality cement plant is a compelling fit with our strategic objectives and our criteria for new investment.”

Proceeds will be used to cut debt and general corporate uses, Cemex said.

The Linebaugh Road cement plant has the capacity to grind nearly one million tons of clinker annually, Eagle Materials said. Clinker is an ingredient in cement.

In 2009, the city of Fairborn took over a former Cemex plant within Fairborn city limits, off East Xenia Drive, as a step toward letting Wright State University use the 54-acre property as a training site for emergency first responders. Today the site is the National Center for Medical Readiness.

The East Xenia Drive plant has a history stretching back to the early 20th century. That and the Linebaugh Road plant’s former owners include Southwestern Portland Cement and Houston-based Southdown Inc.

Cemex acquired Southdown in the year 2000.

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