Contractors appoints local firm to find buyer for £266m turnover arm
Laing O’Rourke is pulling out of the Middle East after more than 50 years in the region.
The firm has appointed Dubai-based Lumina Capital Advisors to find a buyer for the business which has a turnover of £266m and made an underlying profit last year of £12m.
The firm’s Midde East business, which is part of its UK and Europe hub, employs just over 200 people along with a further 620 trade specialists.
O’Rourke has been in the region since it bought the construction arm of John Laing 25 years ago which itself had been working for several years in areas such as the UAE and Oman.
The move means Laing O’Rourke will now concentrate on the UK and Australia and chief executive Cathal O’Rourke pointed to its £17bn order book and work opportunities in its domestic market for the decision, adding that it was “the right time to secure a new owner for the Middle East business”.
The region was once one of the firm’s keys and 20 years ago signed a a deal to carry out all the construction work commissioned by Abu Dhabi’s biggest developer.
The firm built the Al Raha Beach, a mixed-use development close to Abu Dhabi airport, for Aldar Properties and later Aldar’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
The business at the time was led by Norman Haste, previously in charge of T5 and later the boss of Crossrail, but the firm shut its dedicated Middle East arm in 2010 because of the downturn in the UAE, eventually moving it into its UK and Europe hub.
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