John Laing Infrastructure Fund eyes £1bn Balfour Beatty portfolio November 30, 2014 Britain’s biggest construction company could be about to break up. John Laing Infrastructure Fund is weighing up a £1bn bid for Balfour Beatty’s investment arm, according to reports. The Sunday Times reports that John Laing Infrastructure Fund is considering an offer for Balfour’s portfolio of private finance initiative (PFI) contracts. The PFI contracts [...]
Another departure at Balfour Beatty as chief financial officer Duncan Magrath steps down November 4, 2014 Construction company Balfour Beatty announced the departure of chief financial officer Duncan Magrath yesterday. Magrath, who has been with the infrastructure firm for eight years and in the top finance role for six, will leave the business in 2015 after a successor has been found. He will also continue as a member of the board [...]
Balfour Beatty completes $1.24bn sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff to WSP Global October 31, 2014 Balfour Beatty has completed the sale of its design arm Parsons Brinckerhoff to Canadian firm WSP Global for $1.24bn (£753m). The deal, which derailed merger talks between the construction firm and Carillion, gained shareholder approval earlier this week. Balfour Beatty expects to spend the proceeds on returning £200m to shareholders through a share buyback programme [...]
Balfour Beatty share price rises after Parsons Brinckerhoff deal gets shareholder thumbs up October 28, 2014 Balfour Beatty's share price rose this afternoon, following the news it had received shareholder approval to sell off its design consultancy arm Parsons Brinckerhoff. The construction company secured 93 per cent of votes cast at a general meeting today for the deal to go ahead. Shares rose more that 1.2 per cent on the back [...]
New West Ham stadium roof problems may have forced Balfour Beatty to seek more cash October 20, 2014 Problems with the new roof planned for the West Ham stadium may have led beleaguered construction company Balfour Beatty back to the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to ask for extra cash. A spokesman for LLDC, which was established in 2012 by the Greater London Authority to regenerate the area in and around the Olympic [...]
Balfour Beatty’s new chief Leo Quinn is ready to turn the business around October 15, 2014 Balfour Beatty’s newly appointed chief executive Leo Quinn yesterday promised to put a stop to “surprises” at the troubled construction firm. “It’s a company of £10m turnover, with 40,000 employees worldwide, and its returns are far too low,” he told City A.M.. “The continuing surprises that it’s had should not be happening in a [...]
Balfour Beatty names Leo Quinn as new chief exec October 14, 2014 Balfour Beatty’s share price soared this morning after revealing it had snagged Leo Quinn, chief executive of QinetiQ, to lead it out of troubled waters after a turbulent year and a series of profit warnings. Quinn, who has headed up defence technology company QinetiQ since 2009, takes over from Andrew McNaughton who stepped down after [...]
Balfour Beatty circular on Parsons Brinckerhoff deal gets approval October 11, 2014 Infrastructure company Balfour Beatty announced yesterday that its shareholder circular regarding the proposed sale of its US business Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) to a Canadian bidder has been approved by the UK listing authority. The sale price of PB amounts to £820m. The company said in a statement: The sale price represents a significant return on [...]
Balfour Beatty may shut Blackpool International Airport October 6, 2014 Balfour Beatty may be forced to shut Blackpool International Airport if it cannot find a buyer for the asset. The construction firm has been seeking a buyer for the airport since August, and the deadline for its decision is today. Andrew Gibbs, analyst at Investec, told City A.M.: “Blackpool has always been an issue, it’s always [...]
Balfour Beatty share price falls despite sale of Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospital stake October 2, 2014 Balfour Beatty’s £61.5m sale of its stake in Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospital will not be enough to buoy shareholder confidence following the firm’s profit warning on Monday, analysts have said. The company disposed of its 50 per cent interest in the public-private partnership (PPP) yesterday, selling to an HCIL subsidiary, and also announced three new [...]