Currie & Brown rejects offer from engineer SKM

Currie & Brown has received a sale approach by global engineering group Sinclair Knight Merz, QS News can reveal.

The approach, made last month but short of a full-blown bid, was knocked back by Currie & Brown management. A letter was sent to C&B shareholders from chairman Erik Ostman informing them of the approach and the rejection last week.

In the letter Ostman said that while SKM did not make a formal offer, it indicated how much it might value C&B shares. The letter said since this value was below the net value set out in C&B’s last published accounts the firm’s board rejected the approach.

Some shareholders questioned the board’s decision. One said: “There are a number of shareholders who would be interested in exploring the overture. We are a good business with a great client base but if we are better suited with a bigger brother then we should explore this.”

A statement from C&B this week said: “Currie & Brown does not comment on speculative gossip. The business is committed to growing its service lines of project management, cost management, building surveying and management consultancy both in the UK and internationally.”

We are a good business with a great client base but if we are better suited with a bigger brother then we should explore this

C&B shareholder

SKM, which was formed in Australia in 1964, has more than 3,500 employees with offices across the UK, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and South America. The firm bought UK structural and civil engineer Anthony Hunt Associates two years ago and reports at the time said this was the first in a series of acquisitions planned by the firm.

The C&B bid follows a tempestuous period for the firm in the last year, which has led to a string of high-profile departures. Most recently the firm has lost its chairman Angus McLean, operations director David Murray and regional director Mike Wood, who has joined Gardiner & Theobald. QS News understands that director Richard Payne, who was based in C&B’s City office, has also left the firm. He has since joined merchant bank Singer & Friedlander.

Meanwhile, C&B has confirmed a new recruit. Hilary Robson has joined as a divisional director and part of her brief will be to oversee the firm’s role on the BBC’s redevelopment of Broadcasting House in central London.

Robson joins from Bruce Shaw Partnership where she was an associate. London boss Jim Ratliff said Robson had a “wealth of experience”. “Her appointment adds a new dimension to the Currie & Brown corporate real estate team, following a number of high profile national commissions including the BBC, BT and Land Securities,” he said. “These recent contract commissions further demonstrate Currie & Brown’s standing in the industry, leading through innovation in the construction sector.”