Construction 1998 - Company News Summary

Environmental Property Services is to acquire RLH, the supplier of building maintenance services to local authorities in London, for £1.1m.
21-Dec-1998

Woodvale Estates is acquiring City Site Estates, the Glasgow property group, for £4.4m.
16-Dec-1998

Peterhouse Group is to acquire Jackson Group, the civil engineering company, for £18m.
12-Dec-1998

Cavity Trays of Yeovil has acquired Abutment Flashings and Dampcourses for undisclosed terms.
04-Dec-1998

Marley, the building materials company, has accepted a £365m takeover offer from Etex of Belgium, having turned down an approach from the John Mansfield timber company.
03-Dec-1998

Hanson has acquired Nelson & Sloan, the Californian cement and aggregates company, for £23m, as part of an ongoing acquisitions programme in the US.
03-Dec-1998

AC Yule is to relocate its present plant in Livingston to larger premises nearby, and expects to create an additional 50 jobs as it expands its glass and architectural aluminium business in central Scotland.
02-Dec-1998

Mott MacDonald has acquired Bingham Cotterell, the structural and civil engineering consultant with 100 staff.
26-Nov-1998

Thurston Building Systems, the Horbury-based manufacturer of portable buildings, is undergoing a management buyout which will help to safeguard the 120 jobs.
24-Nov-1998

Urban Splash and Speke Garston Development Company are planning a £30m project to convert the former Bryant & May match factory on Merseyside into a business village, creating up to 1,000 jobs.
23-Nov-1998

West Port Corporation has acquired North East Joinery of Blaydon which will enable it to expand the manufacture of PVC-u windows and doors.
19-Nov-1998

Gregory Properties is planning to build a £20m call centre in Bradford that could create more than 1,500 jobs.
18-Nov-1998

Slough Estates, the property company, has succeeded with its £276m hostile takeover bid for Bilton.
14-Nov-1998

ARC has acquired Drings of Bath, the stonemason, from the receivers for undisclosed terms.
12-Nov-1998

Grafton has acquired Deben Builders Merchant of London for £6m.
12-Nov-1998

Shepherd Homes is acquiring George Longden, the builder of houses in the North West and West Midlands, for undisclosed terms.
05-Nov-1998

Aukett Associates, the architects practice, is acquiring Collingwood of Prague for £0.3m.
05-Nov-1998

Bickerton has sold its joinery business to a new firm called Valley Joinery in St Albans.
05-Nov-1998

Tarmac Quarry Products has acquired Johnston Surfacing, the road surfacing contractor, from Johnston Group for £0.6m.
05-Nov-1998

James Latham, the timber importer, has bought partitioning and suspended ceilings group Soarsett for £0.7m.
04-Nov-1998

Haslam Homes is planning to expand its operations in the East Midlands by building 300 new homes a year and creating 80 jobs.
04-Nov-1998

ARC has acquired G Sweeney, the Stockton-based ready-mixed concrete company.
29-Oct-1998

Highbridge Properties and the Ashall Group have announced plans to build a major new business park next to the doomed Siemens plant on Tyneside, and up to 5,000 jobs could be created.
28-Oct-1998

Blue Circle is to acquire Kedah Cement, the Malaysian cement company, for up to £356m.
28-Oct-1998

Vale Royal Borough Council has unveiled a £100m regeneration plan for Northwich, which could create more than 2,000 jobs.
27-Oct-1998

Lilleshall has sold its Ideal Williams doors and windows business to Templebray.
27-Oct-1998

Hewden Stuart has sold its contracting division to a management team for £1.3m, and has also acquired the tower crane division of Elmore Plant.
22-Oct-1998

Hanson is acquiring Condux, the US concrete products maker, for $77m.
20-Oct-1998

Marley has sold its Improdex business in Australia to Australian Vinyl Corporation for £3.6m.
20-Oct-1998

Kingspan Building Products has created 50 new jobs at its plant in Holywell, North Wales, and invested £8m in a high-speed production line for roof and wall panels.
15-Oct-1998

Aram Resources is planning to build a £1m road surfacing material plant in Plymouth, creating up to 12 jobs.
15-Oct-1998

BPB is to acquire the remaining 75% of Gyproc, the Scandinavian plasterboard company, from its joint venture partner Scancem for £95m.
13-Oct-1998

Yorkline, the Leeds-based shopfitter and building contractor, has undergone a management buyout, thereby securing 32 jobs.
13-Oct-1998

Dean Corporation of Huntingdon has bought Bernard Ward and Sons, the Peterborough housebuilders and renovators.
12-Oct-1998

British Aerospace has sold Arlington Securities, the developer of business parks, to Prudential Insurance Company of America for £270m.
10-Oct-1998

Ennstone is forming a joint venture with J&A Gardner to acquire Gardner's quarry operations in the west of Scotland.
09-Oct-1998

Alfred McAlpine is selling its US aggregates and civil engineering operations to Hanson for £73m, in order to focus on UK construction and housebuilding.
08-Oct-1998

Sonae of Portugal is to build a £70m chipboard factory in Knowsley on Merseyside, which will create 220 jobs.
05-Oct-1998

Construction work is expected to start early next year on a £45m industrial park at Newburn in Newcastle, which is expected to create up to 4,000 jobs.
05-Oct-1998

Laird Group has bought the JW Window Components window balance business in the US from Walter Industries for £6m.
02-Oct-1998

Solitaire Group has acquired Pembertons Residential, the manager of 1,300 luxury homes in London.
02-Oct-1998

McLoughlin Pipelines, the Derby-based pipeline contractor, has been sold to management for undisclosed terms.
30-Sep-1998

Marshalls is acquiring Stonemarket, the concrete company, for £16m, in order to gain access to new customers such as independent merchants and garden centres.
29-Sep-1998

CRH has acquired two French companies for £13m - Raboni, the Paris-based builders merchant, and Prefaest, the maker of drainage systems.
29-Sep-1998

Shadsworth Industrial Estate in Blackburn is to be expanded with a £6m investment in new commercial buildings, and up to 700 jobs could be created.
25-Sep-1998

Huddersfield University is planning to build a £10m technology park at an unnamed location in Huddersfield, and up to 20 companies are expected to locate there.
24-Sep-1998

Rotrax, the building services company, is creating 30 jobs in Leeds with the launch of its fourth regional office in the city.
24-Sep-1998

William Davies Properties has won a contract to develop a new business park near the M1 outside Nottingham, which could create up to 4,000 jobs.
22-Sep-1998

Blue Circle Industries has sold its South African cement business to Lafarge of France for $240m.
22-Sep-1998

Masterskreen International, the Dungannon-based quarrying equipment company, is to create 36 jobs and expand its international marketing efforts through an alliance with Nordberg-Read.
21-Sep-1998

Ennstone is to acquire the stone and concrete division of Drings of Bath for about £1m, and it will become part of its Natural Building Materials subsidiary.
21-Sep-1998

Hull Prison has submitted expansion plans to the city council, which would create up to 120 jobs.
18-Sep-1998

Try Homes is acquiring Amey Homes, the south-east based housebuilder, for £4.8m.
17-Sep-1998

Healey & Baker, the property consultancy, is being acquired by Cushman & Wakefield of the US for £70m, to create a combined business with over 7,000 employees in 39 countries.
16-Sep-1998

Savills, the property consultancy, has bought the continental European operations of Weatherall, Green & Smith for £3m, and it now plans further acquisitions in Europe.
15-Sep-1998

Hercules Property Services has acquired Dunlop Heywood of Manchester from N Brown for £5m, which will give it a better balance of commercial and residential property work.
11-Sep-1998

Baggeridge Brick has acquired Rudgwick Brick, the maker of traditional clay bricks, for £2.3m.
10-Sep-1998

Enterprise Properties is planning to build a two-storey technology management centre in the Ribble Valley, signalling the start of a £25m scheme to set up a business park which will create 1,000 jobs.
09-Sep-1998

LB Plastics has bought Manse Windows, the Knaresborough-based windows and doors supplier, from the receivers for undisclosed terms.
07-Sep-1998

Cooper Clarke, the Lancashire-based builders merchant, is being acquired by Heiton Holdings of Ireland for £15.7m.
05-Sep-1998

Meyer Group has sold a number of timber businesses to a management team trading as Palgrave Brown for £10m.
04-Sep-1998

Greenfield Park has won outline planning approval from Pendle Council to build a business and retail complex that will create 490 jobs.
04-Sep-1998

Bethell Group, the construction company, is to create 100 new jobs and double the size of its headquarters at the Europa Park in Stoneclough.
02-Sep-1998

Bucknall, the building management company, is to undergo a £15m management buyout.
29-Aug-1998

The City of Sunderland Partnership is bidding to bring the headquarters of the new University for Industry to Doxford International Business Park, which would result in 150 new jobs.
27-Aug-1998

Wolseley is to acquire the Hall & Co building materials business from RMC for about £120m, and will merge it with its Builder Center division.
26-Aug-1998

Hewden Stuart has acquired Michael Bowyer, the Wokingham-based plant and tool-hire company, for £2.5m.
25-Aug-1998

Williams has acquired KS Conquest, the security services provider, from NatWest Equity Partners for £17m.
25-Aug-1998

Nomura of Japan is set to buy Turner & Townsend's UK facilities management division for £4.5m, in order to build up a business called Servus Facilities Management that will manage and redevelop corporate properties.
24-Aug-1998

BLP, the laminate manufacturer, is acquiring Stanley Cole, the joinery company, and a majority stake in Berman Holdings, the furniture maker, funded by a £8m share offer.
22-Aug-1998

Jordec has sold Baris UK, the construction subcontractor, to management for about £1m.
14-Aug-1998

Gander Holdings, the property investment concern, is to acquire Barrasford Holdings for £24m in order to expand its residential lettings business in London.
11-Aug-1998

Killby & Gayford, the leading installer of automatic teller machines, is being sold to management for £12m.
10-Aug-1998

Berkeley Group is acquiring Thirlstone Group, the builder of luxury homes in Surrey, in a £15m deal.
08-Aug-1998

RMC has bought out British Dredging's 50% stake in their British Dredging Aggregates joint venture for £4m.
08-Aug-1998

Toprak of Turkey is to build a £45m factory at Deeside to make ceramic wall tiles and bathroom suites, creating 430 jobs.
30-Jul-1998

Allen is to acquire the building and civil engineering business of Eve Group for £1.25m.
29-Jul-1998

Polypipe has bought Domus Ducting, the manufacturer of modular ventilation systems, for £4.7m.
29-Jul-1998

Wates City of London Properties is to acquire the Charles Barrett Interiors shopfitting business from the receivers.
28-Jul-1998

Powerscreen International has sold Geith International, the Irish construction equipment company, to management for £7m.
23-Jul-1998

Mitsubishi Estates has won planning permission for the redevelopment of Paternoster Square in London, which will result in the construction of office, retail and leisure space at the site alongside St Paul's Cathedral.
22-Jul-1998

General Industries, the business finance concern, is set to acquire HACAS, the housing consultancy, for £6m, and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Assured Homes for £1.5m.
20-Jul-1998

Kingspan, the Irish cladding and insulation supplier, has acquired Interlink for an initial £6m.
20-Jul-1998

The government has announced a package of measures aimed at creating 50,000 jobs in depressed coalfield communities, and the plans include the creation of a new trust that will work with the regional development agencies.
14-Jul-1998

Berisford is to acquire CP Hart, the bathroom distributor, for £14m, in order to move into the higher-margin end of the market and expand geographical coverage.
13-Jul-1998

CB Richard Ellis, the US property consultancy, is acquiring Hillier Parker for up to £60m, and the London-based consultancy will be renamed CB Hillier Parker.
09-Jul-1998

The government has awarded private finance initiative contracts for the construction and operation of two new prisons, with UK Detention Services getting an 800-place prison near Salford, and Premier Prison Services a 400-place young offenders institution near Bristol.
08-Jul-1998

CRH, the Irish building materials group, has announced 14 small acquisitions at a total cost of £70m, including a builders merchant in Stoke, a fencing company in Doncaster, and a number of deals in the US and Europe.
03-Jul-1998

Blue Circle is to acquire Needler, the Canadian aggregates and concrete blocks company, for £17m in order to strengthen its position in Ontario.
17-Jun-1998

Epwin has acquired Bendex Plastics, the maker of PVC-u cabling systems and other building products, for £4.5m.
16-Jun-1998

Hewden Stuart, the equipment hire company, has sold three subsidiaries - Scot JCB, Gunn JCB, and Stewart Plant - to management for £11m.
06-Jun-1998

Wolseley is acquiring three US building materials companies for a total £68m, including the Stock Lumber timber business, the Forward Enterprises pipe distribution business, and the Tozour Energy heating and ventilating business.
03-Jun-1998

Kier is planning to acquire Bellwinch for about £13m in order to expand its housebuilding business in the south-east.
02-Jun-1998

RMC Group has acquired Wulfrather, the German cement company, for £156m, and there is speculation that it may sell off some of Wulfrather's assets such as a cement plant in Coswig.
22-May-1998

Blue Circle Industries has acquired the cement business of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile for £19m through its Empresas Melon subsidiary, and SQM will take a 14% stake in Melon.
21-May-1998

Jermyn Investment Properties is acquiring ELP Property Group for £31m in order to expand its property portfolio in the south of England.
16-May-1998

Tilbury Douglas is acquiring How Group, the facilities management and engineering services concern, for £47m.
14-May-1998

Andrews Sykes is acquiring Cox Plant Hire from Transport Development Group for £50m, its first move into the general plant hire market.
12-May-1998

Amey has acquired N Jones, the asbestos management company, for £2.5m.
07-May-1998

Grantchester Holdings has acquired Edge Properties, the retail warehouse investment company, for £126m, in order to benefit more from the growth in out-of-town retailing.
07-May-1998

CRH of Ireland is acquiring MA Segale, the US aggregates, paving and construction business, for £36m.
02-May-1998

Hemingway, the property investment company, is to acquire Olives Property for £28.6m in order to gain access to a portfolio of industrial properties.
30-Apr-1998

Grafton of Ireland is to acquire British Dredging, the builders merchant and dredging company, for £35m.
25-Apr-1998

Saint Gobain of France has acquired Oliver Ashworth, the pipeline products distributor, for £34m, and further UK acquisitions could follow.
23-Apr-1998

Hanson is selling its US road paving operation to Colas of France for £55m and will use the proceeds to invest in its core activities.
22-Apr-1998

SGB is expanding its powered access division by opening a new branch in Coventry and by ordering 349 additional aerial work platforms to bring the fleet total to 939.
15-Apr-1998

Hanson has agreed to sell its US road building business to Colas of France for up to $95m, and is close to selling its heavy construction business to Skanska of Sweden for $55m.
09-Apr-1998

Meyer International is selling its Montague L Meyer wood wholesaling business to management for up to £40m, and it has also sold a Dutch DIY business for £34m and a UK supplier of timber frames for £0.6m.
02-Apr-1998

Blue Circle has sold its Blue Circle Incineration subsidiary to a management team for £3m.
20-Mar-1998

WS Atkins has acquired Silk & Frazier, the quantity surveying practice, for £5.1m.
17-Mar-1998

BTR is selling its Australian building materials and Formica laminates businesses to CVC Capital Partners for about £650m, as part of a strategy to focus on engineering.
17-Mar-1998

Dunloe House of Ireland has claimed victory in its takeover battle for Ewart, the Northern Ireland property company, having gained acceptances for 52% of the target shares.
14-Mar-1998

Westbury is to acquire John Maunders, the housebuilder, for £55m, in order to increase its presence in the north west of England and make cost savings.
13-Mar-1998

Hanson has sold Grove Worldwide, its US crane making business, to Keystone for £380m.
12-Mar-1998

Tarmac has acquired a US concrete paving business from Marshalls for £18m, which will expand its presence in the southern states.
09-Mar-1998

Barcom, the plant-hire company, has been acquired by GE Capital of the US for £41m, and GE is expected to follow this with similar acquisitions as it aims to become a leader in the UK plant-hire market.
07-Mar-1998

Travis Perkins is acquiring Sherry & Haycock, the Wiltshire builders merchant, for £13m.
03-Mar-1998

Tarmac and Bovis are to merge their plant hire operations into a joint venture called Castlewyse, which will unite Bovis's Wyseplant branches with those of Tarmac's Castle Plant Services subsidiary.
25-Feb-1998

Barlows, the property company, has sold Rowlinson Constructions to management for £1.1m.
21-Feb-1998

Hanson is acquiring HG Fenton, the US aggregates company, for £50m, as part of a strategy to benefit from the consolidation currently taking place in the US aggregates market.
18-Feb-1998

Cala has acquired Victor Homes, the Yorkshire-based housebuilder, for an initial £2.8m, thereby expanding its coverage into the north of England.
13-Feb-1998

RMC has sold its 50% stake in Chaufournieres de Hergenrath, the lime producer, to its Belgian joint venture partner for £54m, and the proceeds will help finance the recent acquisitions of four German concrete companies.
12-Feb-1998

Milner Estates is to acquire the Five Oaks property company for £41m, and plans to make further acquisitions in future.
12-Feb-1998

Chestertons, the property and estate agent group, has agreed a £70m deal to merge with Summit Group.
12-Feb-1998

Warings, the Portsmouth construction business, has been bought by a management team for £12m.
04-Feb-1998

Whitecroft has bought NT Shapland & Petter, the Devon-based maker of timber fire doors, from Newman Tonks for £1.75m.
04-Feb-1998

CRH of Ireland has spent a further £40m on the acquisition of a number of small North American and European building materials companies, including businesses involved in glass distribution, masonry, paving, concrete bricks and fencing.
21-Jan-1998

Hanson is negotiating the sale of its Spectrum heavy construction and civil engineering businesses in the US to Skanska of Sweden, and also plans to sell the Spectrum roadbuilding business to Bouygues of France.
14-Jan-1998

Limelight is selling its loss-making Portland Windows double glazing business to Broach for £0.5m.
13-Jan-1998