According to CRH chief executive Albert Manifold, the building materials giant played a long game to acquire the Los Angeles-headquartered glazing business CR Laurence.

CRH announced on Thursday morning its purchase of the company from the Friese family for a cool $1.3 billion, a nice little chaser to its results announcement, which included a revenue rise of 13 per cent.

On a conference call later in the day, Manifold was asked whether it had been a long courtship. “We’ve been talking to these people for more than a decade, trying to buy them,” he said, adding that it had tried even harder in the past seven or eight years.

“It was us chasing them. We were delighted to get the opportunity to buy it this year. We think we can do so much more together,” said Manifold.

CR Laurence supplies materials and components used in the glass installation business, and serves the US and Canada.

It is also growing abroad.

CRH is already active in the sector, and has access to 15,000 glaziers in the region, with a 24-hour turnaround time.

“We thought we were the bees knees at this until we saw what CR Laurence does. It has access to 60,000 glaziers. It processes 7,000 orders a day, 65 per cent of them via the internet.”

From CRL to CRH. It shouldn’t be too difficult to change the plates on the office doors.