As Building went to press on Wednesday afternoon, Deloitte & Touche was in advanced talks with at least two firms, one of which was German contractor Bilfinger Berger, over an offer for the PFI and facilities management arm. The other bidder is believed to be outsourcing specialist Mapeley. Support group Babcock International is rumoured to be interested, but declined to comment.
This element of Ballast is expected to fetch £8-12m.
Exeter contractor ROK was expected to have announced to the stock exchange by yesterday morning that it had bought several of the construction division's offices in the north, including Teesside and Manchester, for £1-3m. However, Kier has confirmed that it is keen to acquire the Teesside office and its contracts.
Ian Nichols, business development director of Bilfinger Berger UK, said on Wednesday: "Our investment and services arm is in discussion with Deloitte to make an offer for Ballast's services division."
A source close to Deloitte confirmed that the administrator was hoping to have a deal in place by the end of this week.
If the Bilfinger offer is accepted, it would scupper an attempted management buyout of Ballast Services, led by managing director Phillip Cooper. The buyout team has failed to find a backer since Montpellier withdrew its support earlier this year. Even if the buyout team could find a backer, this could take a month to set up, and Deloitte is known to want to sell the Ballast businesses quickly.
The management team is also unlikely to agree to work for an overseas contractor, after its experience with Dutch contractor Ballast Nedam, formerly the parent group. Ballast Nedam abandoned the loss-making UK company earlier this month, leaving at least 500 people redundant and scores of subcontractors out of pocket.
Our investment and services division is in discussion with Deloitte over Ballast Services
Ian Nichols, Bilfinger Berger UK
Rok's acquisition, which effectively is a straight buy of the juiciest of Ballast's northern construction contracts, comes just a month after the firm's £113m bid for Galliford Try was rejected. This was part of the company's aggressive acquisition drive strategy, having bought family-owned rival Llewellyn for £16.25m last year.
The contractor is expected to re-employ some of the staff at Ballast who were made redundant.
A source close to Ballast said: "Given its recent record of turning around underperforming businesses, I would expect Rok to bring back staff."
Rok is unlikely to pick up any of the liabilities. M&E subcontractor ABB is thought to be owed between £100,000 and £250,000 on some of the northern region contracts. Deloitte declined to reveal what Ballast owed its creditors in total.
Another deal that could be imminent is the sale of some of the construction division's southern region contracts. Botes is understood to be one name in the frame.
Other contractors and support services groups that decided against making bids for parts of Ballast are thought to have included Alfred McAlpine, Galliford Try and Laing.
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