Boral pushed deeper into South-East Asia yesterday by announcing it had purchased Hanson plc's Thai concrete operations for $US45 million ($61 million). The acquisition includes 35 concrete batching plants and 250 trucks, and will make Boral the third-largest concrete and quarry operator in Thailand. At present, Boral's only significant operations in the region include its Indonesian Readymix operations and a plasterboard joint-venture with Lafarge.