Home

Interesting facts about Jamer Materials, Vulcan Materials and Florida Rock Industries

Mon, 02/23/2009 - 17:11 — webmaster

Jamer Materials is owned by Vulcan Materials Company. Vulcan is a New Jersey corporation with its principal place of business in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the first of a series in which we will trace the relationships between Jamer Materials, Vulcan Materials and Florida Rock Industries.  Their numerous environmental and labour violations tend to show that they are not the wonderful corporate neighbours they claim to be.

If you want to find out more about the gritty world of aggregate, just do a Google search using the terms "vulcan violations".  Once you get past all the Star Trek hits, you can see the type of mishief that Vulcan and Florida Rock have been up to.  It makes for some eye-opening reading.  Just make sure you have your safety googles  and respirators on!

Florida Rock's concerns about the "bottom line" are more important than watershed protection

Dumping arsenic-laden materials on the Chamcook watershed just seems to be a financial thorn in the side to Jamer's former partners, Florida Rock Industries, Inc.  In its annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2005, "the Company" (Florida Rock Industries) stated:

"The Company's 50% owned subsidiary, Jamer Materials, Ltd., has learned  that samples of some crushed material from its New Brunswick, Canada quarry contain elevated levels of naturally occurring arsenic.   Based on test results to date, the Company does not believe that the material poses a risk to human health. The Company is continuing to study the  potential impact of this issue on the future operations of the subsidiary. In addition, at the request of a nearby property owner,  some of this material had been used on nearby property for fill near a  stream that leads to the local water supply. The Canadian environmental authorities have ordered that the material be removed from that site. The Company cannot assess at this time, with any degree of certainty, the impact on the subsidiary and its future financial performance, but management does not expect this matter to have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated financial statements or future financial  performance."  

See the full report at:  http://www.secinfo.com/d14Xs.vb.htm


Vulcan and Florida Rock accused of violations of U.S. antitrust laws

Source of this information: Documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, in federal court in a complaint titled, "Plaintiff United States of America ("United States"), acting under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States, brings this civil antitrust action to obtain equitable and other relief against defendants Vulcan Materials Company ("Vulcan") and Florida Rock Industries, Inc. ("Florida Rock") to prevent Vulcan's proposed acquisition of Florida Rock. " Case: 1:07-cv-02044

Read the entire complaint at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f227600/227644.htm

Exerpts from the Complaint of the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division:

"On February 19, 2007, Vulcan and Florida Rock signed a definitive agreement for Vulcan to acquire Florida Rock in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $4.6 billion. The total blended cash-and-stock consideration for this transaction is approximately $68 per share."

"Vulcan and Florida Rock both produce and distribute in the United States building materials, including, among other things, construction aggregates (which includes coarse aggregate) and ready mix concrete.

"Vulcan is the largest supplier of construction aggregates in the United States. Florida Rock is also a leading supplier of construction aggregates in the United States. Combined, Vulcan and Florida Rock will have construction aggregates reserves totaling approximately 13.9 billion tons.

"The United States brings this action to prevent the proposed acquisition of Florida Rock by Vulcan because it would substantially lessen competition in the production, distribution, and sale of coarse aggregate in and around Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and South Hampton Roads, Virginia, in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18.

"Vulcan is a New Jersey corporation with its principal place of business in Birmingham, Alabama. Vulcan produces, distributes, and sells, among other products, construction aggregates, ready mix concrete, hot mix asphalt, and asphalt coating to customers in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and Mexico.

"Vulcan is the largest producer of construction aggregates in the United States. It has over 300 facilities for the production and distribution of construction aggregates and other products. In 2006, Vulcan shipped approximately 255 million tons of construction aggregates, the majority of which were coarse aggregate. In 2006, Vulcan reported total sales of approximately $3 billion.

"Defendant Florida Rock is a Florida corporation with its principal place of business in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida Rock produces, distributes, and sells in the Southeastern and mid-Atlantic states, among other products, construction aggregates, ready mix concrete, prestressed concrete, and cement.

"Florida Rock is one of the largest United States suppliers of construction aggregates. In 2006, Florida Rock shipped approximately 45 million tons of construction aggregates, the majority of which was coarse aggregate. In 2006, Florida Rock reported total sales of approximately $1.4 billion.

"Without the constraint of competition between Vulcan and Florida Rock, the combined firm will have a greater ability to exercise market power by raising prices to customers for whom Vulcan or Florida Rock were sources of coarse aggregate

"In addition, Vulcan's elimination of Florida Rock as an independent competitor in the production, distribution, and sale of coarse aggregate is likely to facilitate anticompetitive coordination among the remaining coarse aggregate suppliers in Northwest Atlanta, West Atlanta, Southwest Atlanta, South Atlanta, Columbus, and Chattanooga. Coarse aggregate is homogeneous and suppliers have access to information about competitors' output, capacity, and costs. Given these market conditions, eliminating one of the few coarse aggregate competitors is likely to further increase the ability of the remaining competitors to coordinate successfully.

"The transaction therefore will substantially lessen competition in the production, distribution, and sale of coarse aggregate in the relevant geographic markets. This is likely to lead to higher prices for the ultimate consumers of coarse aggregate, in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act.

"Timely and successful entry into the production, distribution, and sale of coarse aggregate is unlikely in the relevant geographic areas.

"Securing the proper site for a coarse aggregate quarry or mine is difficult, time-consuming, and costly. It requires the investigation and extensive testing of candidate sites, as well as negotiating necessary land transfers, leases, and/or easements. The location of a quarry, mine, or yard is important due to the high cost of transporting coarse aggregate, but there are few sites, especially in metropolitan areas, on which to locate coarse aggregate operations."

....

"The proposed acquisition of Florida Rock by Vulcan would substantially lessen competition and tend to create a monopoly in interstate trade and commerce in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18."