The £435 million acquisition of Ibstock is a move of enormous significance for CRH. At a single stroke, it is buying a company that vies with Hanson for the number one position in brick manufacturing and also has a substantial presence in the American northeast and midwest regions where CRH already has successful operations in aggregates, tarmacadam and concrete products.
CRH already has brick manufacturing operations in Holland, Germany and Ireland and the addition of Ibstock means that it will now have brick manufacturing operations in three major locations North America, the continent of Europe and Britain .
"The Ibstock businesses fill a big gap very nicely," commented one analyst.
CRH's rapid expansion in recent years has been founded on acquisitions of small and medium-sized businesses where the management continues to run the businesses under CRH's control.
Even the Tilcon deal at £213 million is not treated as one big acquisition by CRH, with finance director, Mr Harry Sheridan, describing Tilcon as "50 small acquisitions that just happened to come in one package".
But the move for Ibstock does indicate a willingness by the Irish group to go for the big deal and at £435 million (inclusive of debt) it is twice as big as the Tilcon transaction and ranks among the top ten overseas acquisitions by Irish companies.
The one surprise is that in what was in effect an auction, CRH has got control of Ibstock at a price which, while not cheap, is also not expensive. CRH's position was boosted by the fact that it had no presence in the British brick manufacturing industry and that meant that there were no competition worries that might concern the Office of Fair Trade.
The timing of the deal the week before Christmas meant that there was little reaction in the market to the acquisition with CRH shares unchanged on their £12.35 all-time high.
The comment from Mr Sheridan that the deal will immediately boost earnings will probably see CRH shares make further gains either in the next two days or in the new year.
