CRH chief executive Jim Mintern has been chosen as The Irish Times Business Person of the Month for June, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland. During the month, the Irish building materials and services giant, agreed to buy US peer Arcosa in a deal worth $8.5 billion (€7.4 billion). This will make it CRH’s largest acquisition to date, from more than 1,200 deals that the Dublin-based company, which was formed in 1970 through the merger of Cement Limited and Roadstone Limited, has carried out in its history. Arcosa is a leading aggregates company and maker of critical infrastructure products, and CRH said it would be “highly complementary” to its existing business. The value of the deal includes both the equity and debt of Dallas-based Arcosa. North American strategy“This strategic acquisition reinforces our position as the number one infrastructure player in North America and advances our strategy to build an aggregates-led, connected portfolio,” said Mintern, who took over as CRH chief in January 2025.This transaction will eclipse CRH’s €6.5 billion deal to buy the cement and construction assets that European rivals Holcim and Lafarge had to sell to appease competition authorities before their own merger in 2015.North America accounted for 71 per cent of CRH’s $7.7 billion adjusted earnings last year and three-quarters of its net profit. The Arcosa deal would increase CRH’s reliance on that market.Mintern set out a strategy last September for CRH to spend $40 billion on investment and cash returns to shareholders over the next five years as it continues to grow revenues and earnings apace. Some $28 billion was earmarked for investment. The Arcosa deal equated to about 30 per cent of the investment pot.