Bid for Balfour Beatty portfolio
01 December 2014
UK contractor Balfour Beatty’s public-private partnership (PPP) portfolio is the subject of a bid from John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF).
The bid is said to be in the region of £1 billion (€1.26 billion).
Balfour Beatty said that it would review the proposal once it had been received, and that its board remained open “to value creation opportunities across the group while it concentrates on the restoration of value to its shareholders”.
The group is awaiting a new CEO, Leo Quinn, who takes up his post in January. Balfour Beatty’s recently announced third quarter trading update confirmed the company’s overall order book remained on a par with its half-year position at £11.7 billion (€14.6 billion).
It said then that September’s third profit warning of the year had led to an expected annual profit shortfall of €95 million within its construction services business. The trading update confirmed the disposal of its US subsidiary Parsons Brinckerhoff resulted in £753 million (€943 million) net gain to the company, with the move having been approved by 93% of its shareholders.
