Balfour Beatty has this morning rejected the latest merger proposal made yesterday by Carillion.
The Balfour Beatty Board said it had considered the terms of the revised merger proposal from Carillion and consulted with its major shareholders. In a statement, Balfour Beatty said the revised proposal had again failed to address the following two key concerns that it has consistently raised:
- The considerable risks associated with the proposed business plan, including the strategy to significantly reduce the scale of the UK Construction business when it is poised to benefit from a recovery in the market; and
- The continued intention to terminate the sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff at a point when it is reaching a successful conclusion.
The Balfour Beatty Board has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of its shareholders and has decided to reject the proposal. The Board will therefore will not be seeking an extension to the PUSU (“Put Up or Shut Up”) deadline of 5pm tomorrow.
The Board also said that the revised proposal represented only a small value change in the terms compared to the proposal it had previously rejected on 11 August 2014.
Balfour Beatty said it will continue to be focused on delivering its standalone strategy as set out in the Group’s interim results announcement on 11 August 2014. The Board says its key priorities are as follows:
Concluding the Parsons Brinckerhoff sales process at an attractive value, and consequently returning up to £200 million of capital to Balfour Beatty shareholders;
- Recruiting an outstanding Group CEO;
- The restoration of value from the UK construction business including progressively returning it to peer group margins;
- Realising further indirect overhead savings and shared service efficiencies across the Group, where all of the benefits will accrue to its shareholders; and
- Publishing the updated valuation of the PPP portfolio which takes into account current market conditions.
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