Rumours that Scottish builder is close to being bought by McLaughlin & Harvey for £26m

Northern Ireland contractor McLaughlin & Harvey is in negotiations to buy Scottish builder Barr Holdings.

Sources close to Barr say the company is taking the offer “very seriously” even though officially the company is denying it is up for sale.

Scottish newspaper reports say the price tag for Barr could be in excess of £26m. For the year ending 31 March it posted a pre-tax profit of £2.6m on a turnover of £211m.

Barr’s activities include construction including civil engineering and stadiums, industrial work such as quarry work as well as manufacturing and waste management. Its projects include the construction of North Glasgow College’s new campus and the design and build of Tesco’s first eco store which is based in Wick, Scotland.

McLaughlin & Harvey’s business includes construction, facilities management and joinery.

This is not the first acquisition attempt on Barr in 2006. Earlier this year its was approached by Kier which carried out due diligence on the company. However a source close to Barr says it was “not impressed by what was on the table.”