Morgan Sindall closes in on Amec

Building understands that Morgan Sindall is on the verge of securing a deal to buy the majority of Amec’s built environment business, including its civil engineering and construction divisions and regeneration portfolio.

Its PPP business is also up for sale, however, it is thought that this will be left out of any deal with Morgan Sindall.

City sources said this week that a deal on the sale was expected “imminently”, with some suggesting that an announcement would be made as early as next week.

Morgan Sindall, Balfour Beatty and a private equity house were understood to have been frontrunners from an initial field of almost 50 bidders; however Morgan Sindall is now believed to be the clear leader in the talks.

It is thought that the PPP business will be left out of any deal

Amec announced earlier this week that it had sold Spie Capag, its pipeline business, to French company Entrepose Contracting. The transaction follows the sale of Amec Spie Rail, Buchan Concrete Solutions and Amec Dynamic Structures earlier this year.

Amec announced three weeks ago that the sale of its built environment business was “progressing well”, and the company later confirmed that it had received interest from both trade and private equity.

Samir Brikho, Amec’s chief executive, announced in January that the company intended to sell its built environment business to focus on the energy market.

Amec reported a pre-tax loss of £109m in its 2006 results after it was hit by a £90m writedown in the construction business. Turnover rose from £2.8bn in 2005 to £3.2bn.