Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, today announces that it has reached an agreement to sell its Scandinavian Rail business to Strukton Rail B.V. for approximately £4 million in cash, equating to broadly net asset value.
The cash consideration will be subject to certain adjustments based on completion accounts and in relation to pension liabilities. Competition clearance has been received from the Swedish competition authority, and completion is expected in January 2014.
At our full-year results in March we stated our intention to divest all of our mainland European rail businesses and announced the sale of the Spanish business. We are currently in discussion with a number of potential buyers for the German business and have started preliminary discussions for the Italian business.
Andrew McNaughton, CEO of Balfour Beatty, commented:
“I am very pleased that we have continued to execute on our stated strategy of disposing of our mainland European rail businesses. We have found a good home for the business, its customers and employees, and we continue to explore similar options for our remaining mainland European businesses.”
Analyst/investor enquiries:
Anoop Kang
Balfour Beatty plc
Tel. +44 (0)20 7216 6913
Media enquiries:
Maitland
Tel. +44 (0)20 7379 5151
BalfourBeatty-maitland@maitland.co.uk
Notes to editors:
1. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.
Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK, the US, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We continue to develop our business in key growth markets in South Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil and India.
With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors include transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, mining, water and social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.
2. Strukton Rail is part of Strukton and develops, constructs, installs and maintains rail systems. Strukton Rail is located in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Germany. The organisation in Sweden employs around 500 people.
