Acquisition

CRH PLC
17 September 2007



17 September 2007



CRH ANNOUNCES NEGOTIATIONS WITH CEMEX WHICH MAY LEAD TO

THE PURCHASE OF CERTAIN ASSETS IN THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE



CRH plc, the international building materials group, announces that it is in
negotiations with CEMEX S.A.B. de  C.V. (Cemex) that may lead to the acquisition
of certain Cemex assets located in the United States and in Europe. The
completion of any transaction would be subject to satisfactory due diligence,
the approval of the respective Boards of Directors and the granting of the
required regulatory approvals (including the U.S. Department of Justice and
other antitrust authorities).


The assets under negotiation include those operations in Florida and Arizona
that the U.S. Department of Justice has required Cemex to divest as a result of
the acquisition of Rinker. In addition CRH is in negotiations to acquire from
Cemex some or all of the following Cemex assets in the United States: Cemex's
concrete pipe business; all the company's materials and products operations in
the Pacific Northwest, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, and El Paso, TX;
the aggregates operations in Kentucky; Cemex's cement plants in Wampum, PA and
Fairborn, OH; and its gypsum wallboard distribution business in Florida. In
Europe the assets under negotiation include the San Feliu cement plant in
Catalonia in Spain and Cemex's readymixed concrete and aggregates assets in
Austria and Hungary.



Given the mix of Cemex and Rinker assets, and the fact that Cemex's acquisition
of Rinker has only recently been completed, detailed combined financial
information on a consistent basis is not yet available. Depending on the scale
of businesses included in any potential deal, and the outcome of due diligence,
a transaction size in the range of US$3.5 billion and US$4.5 billion (euro 2.5
billion to euro 3.2 billion) is possible. CRH has sufficient balance sheet
capacity to debt-finance any transaction that might take place.



Contact CRH at Dublin 404 1000 ([phone])



Liam O'Mahony, Chief Executive

Myles Lee, Finance Director

Eimear O'Flynn, Head of Investor Relations

Maeve Carton, Group Controller





CRH plc, Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, Ireland

TELEPHONE [phone] FAX [phone]

E-MAIL [e-mail] WEBSITE www.crh.com

Registered Office, 42 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2, Ireland






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