CRH ends acquisition push with $1.3 bln purchase of U.S. glass firm

* CRH (EUREX: 558474.EX - news) has spent over 7.5 bln euro on acquisitions this year

* World's No. 3 builder says Europe stable, U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . strong

* H1 EBITDA from continuing operations up 29 pct y/y

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) 's CRH bought U.S. glazing products manufacturer CR Laurence for $1.3 billion on Thursday and said this would be its last acquisition of that size for the next year or two after a surge in M&A.

CRH completed earlier this month a 6.5 billion euro ($7.35 billion)acquisition of assets that rivals Holcim and Lafarge (EUREX: 504482.EX - news) had to sell to win regulatory approval for the newly merged LafargeHolcim (Other OTC: HCMLF - news) , the world's biggest cement maker.

CR Laurence, which sells everything glazing contractors need apart from the glass that an existing division of CRH already provides, will be acquired debt-free and through the building supplies group's existing financial resources.

Already the leading producer of asphalt and No. 3 supplier of construction aggregates in the United States, CRH will pay a multiple of 8.6 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) when adjusted for expected synergies, Davy Stockbrokers wrote in a note.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in CRH were up 5 percent to 1,890 pence by 0820 GMT, the top riser on the FTSE 100

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) makes us by a country mile the number one in this sector," CRH chief executive Albert Manifold told Reuters.

"It's a $25 billion sector in the U.S. and has got high growth dynamics given what we're seeing in the residential and non-residential markets," he said.

"This will be an area of focus and continued acquisition for us (but) in the near term, our focus will absolutely be on the integration of these two deals in the next 12-24 months. You will expect to see the small bolt-on deals but they will be funded entirely by any business we sell in that time."

CRH embarked on its own disposal plan last year, one of the first steps Maniford took as the new CEO, and said on Thursday that over half of the 1.5 to 2 billion euros worth of net assets identified for sale had been offloaded.

CRH will integrate LafargeHolcim assets that will add 752 million euros to annual EBITDA and turn it into the world's third-biggest building materials supplier.

The Dublin-based group reported first half EBITDA of 555 million euros, a 29 percent year-on-year excluding one-off items.

It had guided for a 10 percent increase and said on Thursday that it expected earnings in its busier second half to show "good progress" on the 1.1 billion euros generated last year, which Manifold said reflected CRH's focus on a stabilising European market and strongly performing U.S. businesses.

"That strategy is really going to be a key strength going forward given the volatility we're seeing in emerging markets. I know China's in vogue this week, but it was Brazil last week and the week before that it was Russia," Manifold said.

($1 = 0.8849 euros) (Editing by Mark Heinrich)