M&A

Henry Boot has acquired a majority share in housebuilding and retro-fit specialist Starfish Commercial. The Chesterfield-based contractor was founded in 2009 and has worked on projects alongside Yorkshire Housing, East Midlands Housing and Magenta Living to deliver homes across the Midlands and North England. Henry Boot has acquired between 50-75…

Cementation Skanska is no longer for sale, its parent company has revealed. Skanska UK has ended its attempts to offload the ground engineering specialist after it failed to find a buyer willing to meet its price. Chief executive Gregor Craig said: “We have been clear that we would only sell…

US real-estate giant CBRE has submitted a £267.4m bid to buy Telford Homes, a price that has been agreed with the firm's directors. CBRE revealed the move in a stock-market announcement this morning. The California-based firm has made a 350p per share cash offer, which is a 21 per cent…

UK consultant Hurley Palmer Flatt Group has been bought out by US-based firm HDR. The acquisition will help the American outfit expand into the UK, HDR managing director Paul Flatt said in a statement. “This is a cultural fit of two firms, with the strategic geographic fit of Hurley Palmer…

Barratt has acquired a Scottish timber frame manufacturer. Headquartered in the Scottish borders town of Selkirk, Oregon Timber Frame Engineering claims to be one of the UK's largest independent timber frame manufacturers. The business, which also has a facility in Staffordshire was specialises in the design, manufacture and erection of structural…

United Living and Fastflow Group have merged to form a new group. United Living’s housebuilding and maintenance business will complement Fastflow Group’s utilities and maintenance capabilities, according to Fastflow chief executive Neil Armstrong (pictured above, right), who will head up the new group as CEO. United Living CEO Ian Burnett (pictured…

Galliford Try Partnerships has agreed a deal to acquire Yorkshire-based developer Strategic Team Group. The management team and staff at the firm will remain in place, and it will trade as Galliford Try Partnerships Yorkshire from 1 July 2019. STG, which operates in Yorkshire and the North-west, employs a total…

Shares in Lendlease surged on Monday after reports that a Japanese company was considering a takeover. Mitsui, a Japanese conglomerate involved in engineering, chemicals, banking and brewing, is considering buying the contractor and developer, according to The Australian. Lendlease issued a statement denying it had received an approach from any…

Concrete frame specialist Morrisroe has moved into the piling sector with acquisition of GSS Piling and Geostructural Solutions. The deal was revealed on Friday by CN's sister title Ground Engineering. Morrisroe had been tipped to buy Cementation Skanska last year. It has since cooled on the deal, according to GE, because…

Spie was forced to take a £9.2m loss when it sold its distribution and transmission business to Keltbray last June. The French-owned firm's 2018 accounts revealed Keltbray paid Spie £697,000 for the contracts and associated assets of the loss-making business, despite the contractor valuing them at £9.9m. In spite of the loss…