November 2001

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
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State by State

Florida Rock, U.S. Aggregates Terminate Southeastern Deal

Florida Rock Settles Corps Claim, Purchases Tennessee Quarry

Product Groupings Featured at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2002

ASET Scores a Victory in California

Florida Rock, U.S. Aggregates Terminate Southeastern Deal

Draper, Utah—On Oct. 15, U.S. Aggregates Inc. announced the termination of an agreement to sell its Southeastern operations to Florida Rock Industries Inc.
Due to conditions stemming from delays in receiving necessary approvals, Florida Rock had requested certain contract modifications including a substantial reduction in purchase price.
The companies mutually concluded that they were unable to reach agreement on these modifications.
The changes were introduced when U.S. Aggregates was unable to close the sale of its Southeastern operations to Florida Rock by Oct. 8, the date specified in the purchase contract, and had requested an extension.
In July, U.S. Aggregates said it would sell its southeastern operations to Florida Rock for about $105 million in cash, plus the assumption of about $45 million in external debt and equipment operating leases.
U.S. Aggregates said that it has reached an agreement in principle subject to documentation with its senior secured lenders for an extension of its existing credit facility to Nov. 16. In light of the termination of the sale agreement, the company continues to negotiate further with its lenders regarding additional financial alternatives.

Florida Rock Settles Corps Claim, Purchases Tennessee Quarry

Jacksonville, Fla.—Florida Rock Industries, Inc. announced that it has closed the settlement of a several decades old inverse condemnation claim against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers involving the conveyance of 1,560 acres of land in Dade County, Fla., in return for proceeds of $21 million.
As proceeds received under threat of condemnation, the company believes that the proceeds will not be subject to income taxation as long as the proceeds are reinvested in similar real property within the next three years.
Florida Rock also announced an agreement to purchase American Materials Technologies, LLC, which owns and operates an aggregates quarry in Chattanooga, Tenn. The operation is capable of producing approximately 1.5 million tons per year of aggregates and has more than 50 million tons of permitted reserves.
“The timing of the Corps of Engineers settlement with this acquisition will enable Florida Rock to redeploy a portion of its capital from a non-performing asset to performing assets in an attractive Southeastern market,” said John D. Baker II, president and chief executive officer of Florida Rock.

Product Groupings Featured at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2002

Las Vegas—ConExpo-Con/Agg 2002, to be held March 19-23 in Las Vegas, will include product concentration areas to help attendees effectively navigate the exposition, saving time and increasing productivity.
The product concentration areas will group companies that provide similar products and services to help make it easier for attendees to see the companies and products they are most interested in.
“With the increasing size of the show and the demands on attendees’ time, the product concentration areas have enabled attendees to target specific products and exhibitors,” said Dennis Slater, show managing director.
The show will feature product concentration areas under the general categories of earthmoving; lifting; asphalt paving and production; concrete paving and production; aggregates processing; and heavy duty trucks and mixers.
Free shuttle buses will take attendees from participating hotels to numerous points within the show for access to the exhibits.
Product locators will be provided on the exhibit floors to give attendees information on exhibitors as well as offer information to help them navigate the show.
“With our attendees spending an average of two and a half days at the show, we understand that they may not have time to see the entire event,” said Peter Vlahos, show managing director. “We’re doing everything we can to help them accomplish their goals for the show as quickly and easily as possible so they have the time to look for new business solutions, network with their peers and take full advantage of the opportunities that present themselves at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2002.”

ASET Scores a Victory in California

Washington, D.C.—The Advocates for Safety and Efficient Transportation (ASET) scored a major legal victory in California last month.
After being hit hard on pretrial motions, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, the Sierra Club and No-Way L.A. Coalition abandoned what was left of their lawsuit to stop transportation projects worth $400 million.
A key turning point occurred when ASET entered the case as an intervenor. The ASET legal team aimed its actions at knocking down the attack on the legitimacy of the federal and state transportation planning and project approval process under the Clean Air Act. As an intervenor, ASET helped federal, state and local transportation agencies defend their decision to approve the projects.
ASET also challenged the legal assumption and won a precedent-setting ruling that the no-growth groups should be entitled to reimbursement for their legal fees under the Clean Air Act if their lawsuit had been successful.
The ASET litigants in the case were the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, the American Concrete Pavement Association, the National Association of Homebuilders, the Laborers-Employers Cooperation & Education Trust and the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association. ASET spent $200,000 over two years defending the transportation construction industry’s interests in the Sacramento case.
Since its organization in late 1999, ASET and ARTBA environmental litigation activities have allowed almost $2 billion in challenged transportation improvement projects across the nation to move forward.