Trillium buys Amec’s project investments arm for £164m

Land Securities Trillium has expanded its PPP portfolio with the £164m acquisition of Amec’s project investments business.

The deal includes interests in nine signed PFI projects in the healthcare, transport and education sectors, one preferred bidder project and Amec’s PFI/PPP bidding and asset management team. The PFI deals include the South Lanarkshire Schools PFI, and the Cumberland Infirmary, one of the first operational PFI hospitals.

Ian Ellis, chief executive of Land Securities Trillium, said the deal was “the last piece of the jigsaw” in building a PPP presence.

He said: “It gives us access to the three key areas of health, education and transport. In property outsourcing there are great deals, but in PPP there is a much more regular deal flow.”

This means that Amec has only to complete the sale of its building and facilities services division to complete its exit from the built environment sector and refocus as an energy company.

Its development arm, now part of Morgan Sindall, was this week appointed preferred development partner on Manchester’s Victoria station.

Amec has struggled to make a profit in the built environment, and posted a loss of £109m last year because of difficult contracts and legal disputes.

The latest legal case, it emerged this week, is a dispute with the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) over a £27m contract to build a ferry terminal at Birkenhead, Merseyside.

MDHC has issued a High Court writ suing Amec for an unspecified sum for breach of contract and breach of care.

Amec this week bought Agraro consulting, an international project management and services company in Romania, for £84,000.