The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is looking at a possible £2 billion takeover approach for Balfour Beatty, according to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Times newspaper.

The newspaper said that CCECC, a subsidiary of the state-BACKED China Railway Construction Corporation, is “understood to have sounded out industry figures about the feasibility of bidding for Britain’s biggest contractor.”

Chinese companies are actively pursuing investments in UK infrastructure. Last week the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) was named as preferred bidder for the £300M contract to provide marine works for the the £1 billion Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project – the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant. The firm has taken a  strategic decision to enter UK infrastructure and investment market

Mr LIN Yi Chong, President & CEO at CHEC, said:

“CHEC has taken the strategic decision to enter the UK infrastructure investment and construction market, and we see the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, a pioneering scheme that could bring the world a new energy option, as the cornerstone project in our business development strategy in the UK and wider Europe. We have not invested directly into the Swansea Bay project but we made a proposal to do so and will seek opportunities to invest in similar projects in the UK and Europe.  We will seek to grow our UK presence through significant investment into a subsidiary business and through a programme of UK infrastructure investment and construction.”

To date Balfour Beatty has not made any comment on the possibility of a Chinese takeover bid.