Fox Group has appointed former Tarmac national commercial director Richard Kirwin as group commercial director, giving him responsibility for sales, marketing, product development and customer relations across its plant hire, quarrying, aggregates recycling, muck-away and ready-mix concrete operations. Kirwin brings 25 years’ experience at Tarmac, including four years in a UK-wide commercial role covering asphalt, aggregates and concrete supply to major infrastructure schemes. The move follows Blackpool-based Fox Brothers Holdings Group’s acquisition by Stellex Capital Management in September 2024, signalling an aggressive growth and materials innovation agenda in regional civils supply chains.

BlueScope has rejected an A$8.8 billion takeover bid from Steel Dynamics and SGH, which offered A$30 per share and proposed splitting the business, with Steel Dynamics taking North American operations and SGH retaining the rest. The board argued the offer undervalued assets including five North American businesses that delivered about 45% of FY2025 revenue, a steel mill in Ohio located roughly 130 km from a Steel Dynamics facility, and nearly 100 Australian sites generating A$6.95 billion in domestic sales. The decision comes amid 50% US steel import tariffs and BlueScope’s parallel interest in acquiring the Whyalla steelworks with partners Nippon Steel and Posco.

Hillhouse Quarry Group, one of Scotland’s largest privately owned aggregates and asphalt producers, has appointed former NATS chief financial officer Alistair Borthwick as chief executive and promoted long-serving commercial director Mark Munro to managing director. The leadership change follows the planned April retirement of managing director Robert McNaughton, who led the family-run business for 18 years as it expanded from an Ayrshire quarry operator into a national group and entered Scotland’s top 100 private companies. For contractors and materials buyers, the move signals continuity in long-term supply relationships and pricing strategy, with added financial discipline from Borthwick’s infrastructure background.