A century-old Cortland asphalt company's blockbuster sale to a French construction conglomerate is moving forward only after regulators forced a major shake-up, requiring the buyer to sell off four facilities across New York and Pennsylvania to preserve competition for taxpayer-funded road repair work. Suit-Kote Corporation agreed in August 2025 to be acquired by Colas Inc. for more than $450 million, but state and federal investigators found the deal would have left local highway departments with almost nowhere else to turn for paving bids.
Deal Gets a Regulatory Checkpoint
Suit-Kote, headquartered in the Cortland area for more than a century, entered its agreement to be purchased by Colas for $450 million, according to a Colas news release cited by syracuse.com. Suit-Kote generates approximately $500 million in annual revenue, according to Groupe Bouygues, Colas's French parent company. The companies needed to resolve antitrust concerns before the sale could close, and this month they did, agreeing to sell four facilities to end investigations that stretched across two states.
The investigation into the proposed acquisition was conducted jointly by the New York Attorney General's Office, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the New York Attorney General's Office. The New York Attorney General's release says investigators found that Suit-Kote and Colas were often the only bidders on taxpayer-funded road projects across several Western and Central New York counties. The combined company threatened road paving competition specifically in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans and Wayne counties.
Pennsylvania Regulators Cited a 90% Market Share
In Pennsylvania, the stakes were framed in even starker terms. A federal antitrust complaint challenged the proposed merger, according to Westlaw Today. Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers or acquisitions that substantially lessen competition. Sunday said the action protects roadway infrastructure in central and western Pennsylvania and preserves government funds, in a statement included in the same release cited by syracuse.com.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was protecting competition and fair prices for New Yorkers. “Protecting competition in this industry will ensure New Yorkers’ tax dollars are spent fairly and asphalt companies will continue to provide high-quality services to our towns and counties,” James said in the post. In the news release announcing the settlement, James said it protects competition and fair spending of New Yorkers' tax dollars while supporting high-quality services.
Four Facilities Changing Hands
Under the October 2026 settlement terms, Colas and Suit-Kote must sell four total facilities to a single approved buyer, according to FingerLakes1: Suit-Kote's regional headquarters in Jamestown, manufacturing and storage sites in Belmont and Buffalo, and a Colas facility in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. The New York Attorney General must approve whoever buys the package. Suit-Kote currently has more than 750 employees across more than a dozen facilities in New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada, and provides full-service asphalt paving services to local highway departments, per syracuse.com's reporting.
The settlement also mandates that Colas fund up to $3 million to construct a new asphalt emulsion mill and storage capacity at the Bloomsburg facility, capable of producing at least 4 million gallons annually, FingerLakes1 reports. Colas may complete that buildout itself after the sale or hand the buyer equivalent funds instead. On top of that, Colas must supply up to $3.5 million in pavement-preservation equipment for each of the divested sites in Belmont and Bloomsburg if the buyer requests it, Westlaw Today reports.
Worker Protections and Years of Oversight Ahead
The agreement also addresses what happens to employees at the divested plants. Colas and Suit-Kote must waive noncompete agreements for staff at the four facilities who accept jobs with the new buyer, while being barred from soliciting those same workers for 24 months, according to Westlaw Today. Noncompetes are common in specialized industrial operations, making that waiver a meaningful protection for workers whose jobs are shifting ownership.
Regulators aren't done watching the region, either. For five years after the deal closes, Colas and Suit-Kote must give state attorneys general 60 days' advance written notice before acquiring any asphalt emulsion facility in Pennsylvania valued above $7 million, per Westlaw Today's reporting. That notice window is designed to let regulators review smaller future acquisitions before they quietly reshape the market again.
A Century-Old Cortland Business Meets a Global Conglomerate
Suit-Kote was founded in 1921 by the Suits family and is based in Cortland. It grew over a century from a local paving contractor into a regional asphalt specialist managing more than 20 facilities across the northeastern United States and Canada, according to background from the Associated General Contractors of New York State.
Colas is the infrastructure subsidiary of Paris-headquartered Bouygues Group. North America represented Colas's second-largest market, accounting for 28% of total revenue at the end of 2024. For nine Western New York counties and the paving budgets that depend on competitive bids, the settlement's success will likely hinge on whether a buyer for the four divested sites steps forward and keeps those plants running as genuine rivals rather than letting the market quietly consolidate anyway.
