West Hawaii
Concrete purchased

Buyer Knife River Corp. also
owns Oahu's Hawaiian Cement Co.

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Star-Bulletin staff

Knife River Corp., the North Dakota company that acquired Hawaiian Cement Co. in 1995, has purchased West Hawaii Concrete Ltd., a privately held ready-mix and construction materials company serving the west side of the Big Island.

West Hawaii Concrete President and CEO Carl L. Simons and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mel D. Macy will stay to run the business for Knife River. The two bought West Hawaii Concrete in 1980.

"This acquisition will give us a presence in the ready-mix market on the Big Island," said Terry Hildestad, president and CEO of Knife River.

West Hawaii Concrete will keeps it name, and there will be no change in management or key personnel, Knife River said.

The company did not disclose financial details of the acquisition. West Hawaii Concrete has annual revenues in excess of $20 million and produces 100,000 cubic yards of ready-mix concrete each year.

West Hawaii Concrete operates four quarries and two ready-mix plants on the Big Island. It also produces concrete block and decorative stone cut stone and provides concrete pumping operations.

With the latest purchase, Knife River has a presence on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

"Over the next decade, we expect the greatest growth in Hawaii to occur on the islands of Maui and Hawaii," Hildestad said.

Knife River, a subsidiary of the publicly traded MDU Resources Group Inc., also has operations in Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.