Italy’s construction giant Salini Impregilo S.p.A., which acquired Cheshire, Conn.-based Lane Construction Inc. in 2015, has agreed to sell its U.S. subsidiary’s asphalt production division to Eurovia SAS, part of French contractor Vinci Group, for $555 million.

In its Aug. 8 announcement of the pending deal, Salini Impregilo said that shedding Lane's plants and paving division fits the parent firm's strategy to focus on large, complex projects in the U.S., which is its biggest single market and targeted to deliver 40% of group sales.

Operating in 10 states, the division owns about 40 production plants and several quarries and generates more than $600 million in sales, according to Eurovia.

The deal, due to close later this year, will make that firm a major asphalt producer on the East Coast and in Texas with total sales of about $1.2 billion.