Ingram to sell its Materials Unit

Ingram Industries Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee, and Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel Co. of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, announced today they have entered into an agreement for Ingram to sell its Ingram Materials LLC subsidiary to Pine Bluff. Ingram Materials is one of the nation’s premier producers of fine aggregate used by the construction industry for concrete, asphalt and masonry projects in Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Northern Alabama.

Ingram Materials operates three sand dredges on the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky, and has distribution facilities in Nashville, Clarksville and New Johnsonville, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; and Decatur and Florence, Alabama. The Ingram Materials business was first established in 1927 by other owners who called it the Ohio River Sand Company. A successor to this business, called the Cumberland River Sand and Gravel Company, was purchased by the Ingram family in 1962 and renamed Ingram Materials.

At that time, the business included a large sand yard facility on the east bank of the Cumberland River, visible from downtown Nashville. Ingram Materials relocated its operations to its current Nashville location at Visco Drive in 1997 – to make room for Nashville’s then-new NFL stadium built for the Tennessee Titans.

Orrin Ingram, President and CEO of Ingram Industries Inc., noted that the sale of Ingram Materials is “an opportunity to align with an industry leader more focused on the production and sale of sand and aggregate.”

“Pine Bluff and Ingram are both family-owned companies with cultures that place great value on associate satisfaction and safe operations, so it means a lot that our Ingram Materials associates will become part of a company that shares our values,” Mr. Ingram said.

Brian McGeorge, COO and Vice President of Pine Bluff, said Pine Bluff is “excited by the opportunity to continue the hard work done by Ingram over the years to build a valuable, well-run company which shares a similar culture as Pine Bluff.”

Pine Bluff’s original business in 1913 was sand and gravel dredging on the Arkansas River.  “Sand dredging continues to be a major part of our company.  We are extremely excited to acquire a company in a line of business we know very well with a significant presence in very attractive markets,” Mr. McGeorge said.

“Pine Bluff’s leadership position in the sand and aggregate industry should allow us to combine the strengths of Ingram Materials and Pine Bluff,” he said. “Ingram has many customers and partner-distributors, and Pine Bluff looks forward to continuing and expanding those relationships.”

Mr. McGeorge also said that Pine Bluff intends to hire all of the existing Ingram Materials associates and continue operations substantially unchanged.  Ingram Materials will operate under the name Pine Bluff Materials Co. going forward.

As part of this transaction, Pine Bluff and Ingram Barge Company will enter into a long term towage agreement under which Ingram Barge and Pine Bluff will tow Pine Bluff’s sand and gravel barges on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. The sale announced will not affect operations or employment at other Ingram companies, including Ingram Content Group and Ingram Barge Company, both headquartered in Nashville.