M&A

Vistry’s £1.27bn takeover of Countryside Partnerships has been completed. The deal, first announced in September, combines two of the UK’s largest housebuilders. The takeover is the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions by Vistry, which, as the former Bovis Homes, doubled in size when it acquired Galliford Try's…

Keltbray has bought Idec Group, a high-voltage-power engineering business that provides electrical substation design, construction and commissioning services up to 275kV. Its work includes digital systems engineering for grid protection, control, supervision and data acquisition to the energy networks, renewable energy and energy-storage markets. Stockton-on-Tees-headquartered Idec employs 138 people. In…

Amey’s new owner faces a major challenge to achieve the kinds of returns it would like from the company, an expert has warned. Current owner Ferrovial announced yesterday it had reached an agreement to sell its stake in the contractor, aside from its waste treatment business. The buyer is a…

A former chief executive of Amey is spearheading a consortium looking to snap up the contractor from its Spanish owners for £220m, it has been reported.  Former CEO Andy Milner is involved in talks with Amey’s parent company Ferrovial about a buyout of the business, according to Sky News. The…

The insulation and solar power arm of the UK's largest roofing specialist, which entered administration last week, has been acquired by a private investor – saving all 100 jobs in the division. Avonside Energy was one of the 39 divisions which fell into administration last week when the wider Avonside…

Housebuilder Vistry has revealed plans to buy rival Countryside in a deal totalling £1.25bn. Vistry, formerly known as Bovis Homes, has offered 249p per share for Countryside. This represents a 9.1 per cent premium on the 228p closing share price on Friday (2 September) for the rival housebuilder. In a…

Cambridge-based M&E contractor CPS Building Services has been acquired by US private equity firm HIG Capital. The specialist, which turned over £24.6m in the year to January 2021 and made a pre-tax profit of £4m, is the first of a number of purchases planned by the American investor, which has…

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has raised concerns over competition on HS2 bidding due to the proposed merger of Bouygues and Equans. In November 2021, Bouygues struck a £6bn deal to buy Equans, the construction and services business owned by Engie, including the latter’s UK Regeneration and facilities-management arms.…

Property developer and investor Landsec has launched a new regeneration division. The new business will be created by meshing Landsec’s pipeline of regeneration work together with recently acquired regeneration specialist U+I. Mike Hood (pictured) will head up the new division as chief executive. Hood, who was formerly managing director at…

Ritchie Bros, which supplies auctions for the sale of heavy machinery, has cancelled plans to merge with competing firm Euro Auctions, calling off the potential £775m deal. When the deal was first tabled, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) referred it for a second round of investigations. This followed the…