M&A

Britishvolt, the start-up electric vehicle battery manufacturer behind a £3.8bn gigafactory in Northumberland, went under owing around £160m, it has emerged. A new report from administrators at EY shows that those owed money by the company included mechanical and electrical (M&E) giant NG Bailey, which is out of pocket by…

Osborne chief executive Mark Hoyland is to exit the role after less than six months, with former interim boss Dave Smith returning to the helm of a slimmed-down group. The Surrey-headquartered development and contracting giant announced that Hoyland, who only took the top job last November, would step down to…

Severfield has bought a Dutch steel contractor as it seeks to expand its European operations. The North Yorkshire-based steel fabrication firm spent €24m (£21.2m) on the acquisition of Voortman Steel Construction Holding B.V. (VSCH), which is based in Rijssen, in the east of the Netherlands. The acquisition will give Severfield…

A Sunderland contractor is taking over Tolent’s Teesside operations, re-employing up to 150 former Tolent staff. Brims Construction could see its headcount more than double after agreeing to take over projects with Tolent’s Teesside clients. Tolent was a Gateshead-based contractor that had an annual turnover of £200m before collapsing last…

Troubled Britishvolt could sell a majority stake to an Indonesia-linked private equity firm, it has been reported. According to The Guardian, negotiations with London-based DeaLab Group could lead to a takeover of the UK electric-car-battery manufacturer and means construction work could resume on a £3.8bn battery cell gigaplant in Blyth, Northumberland.…

The sale of Amey to a pair of private equity firms has been completed, with updated financial results showing the relevant operations making a profit of £82m in 2021.   US-based One Equity Partners and the UK’s Buckthorn Partners announced on 30 December that they paid former owner Ferrovial £264.6m for…

The competition watchdog has greenlit the merger of two component suppliers, which it previously said risked pushing up concrete prices. Swiss multinational Sika agreed in November 2021 to buy Germany’s MBCC for £4.5bn. The companies are the UK’s two largest suppliers of chemical admixtures, which are key to the process…

Builders’ merchant Jewson has been sold to a Danish firm for £740m. The construction retailer was founded in 1836 and has been owned by French company Saint-Gobain since 2000. It currently has 600 branches in the UK. Saint-Gobain exchanged contracts with Stark Group for the former’s its entire distribution business,…

Farrans has been subject to a strategic review by its parent company that could see the business sold. The £362.5m turnover civils and building contractor is part of Belfast-based Northstone (NI), which is a subsidiary of materials giant CRH, owner of Tarmac. Farrans is based in Northern Ireland and works…

The Competition and Markets Authority has closed its investigation into French industrial giant Bouygues’ acquisition of construction-services firm Equans for €6.1bn. Bouygues agreed to acquire Equans from fellow French firm Engie in November for an initial price of €6.5bn, which, when factoring in net debt, resulted in a final purchase price…