M&A

OCU Group, the parent company of Stockport-based contractor O’Connor Utilities, has acquired London-based multi-utility specialist Modus for an undisclosed sum. Modus Utilities focuses on building power networks and substations, including solar farms and battery storage facilities. Its clients include UK Power Networks, British Land and Ampyr Energy. For the year…

Foundations specialist Abbey Pynford has been saved from administration after being bought by Wiltshire-based contractor Conlon Ltd. Abbey Pynford, which is located in Luton, filed a notice to appoint administrators last month. But the firm’s new managing director Robert Mitchell confirmed to Construction News that Conlon has since bought the…

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,…