Kier to acquire Mouchel?
01 December 2014
The UK’s Kier Group has confirmed that it has held preliminary discussions over the potential acquisition of fellow UK contractor Mouchel.
Mouchel was incorporated into a new, de-listed company, MRBL, after its shareholders rejected an alternative restructuring plan that would have seen its lenders swap £87 million (€109 million) of existing debt for a majority stake in the company.
It had previously rejected takeover offers from Interserve and Costain.
Kier, which ranked No 48 in the most recent CE-100 list of Europe’s largest construction companies, said last month that its construction division had maintained its good performance, with a significant contribution from UK frameworks. It said its order book of secured and probable work at £2.6 billion (€3.32 billion) provided for 100% of the predicted revenue for the current financial year, which it said was ahead of the equivalent position last year. It added that the level of new work continued to improve across the UK.