黑洞社区

Kier has completed its 拢265m acquisition of consultant Mouchel.

In a statement issued to investors this morning, Kier said the deal closed yesterday and would 鈥渁ccelerate鈥� its plans to grow in the infrastructure sector, particularly in roads.

The combined company has a 拢9.3bn order book and a leading market share in the UK highways sector.

Kier chief executive Haydn Mursell (pictured, left) said: 鈥淭he successful acquisition of Mouchel now positions Kier as a sector leader in the growing UK highways maintenance and management market.

鈥淚n particular, the acquisition enables the Group to capitalise on 拢17 billion of investment in the strategic road network to be delivered through Highways England over the next five years.鈥�

Kier completed a 拢340m rights issue to finance the acquisition earlier this month.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 at the time of the announcement in April, both Mursell, and Mouchel chief executive Grant Rumbles (pictured, right), said the deal broke the mould by combining heavyweight contracting and consulting expertise.

Mursell said he was 鈥渧ery excited about getting consultancy into the Kier fold鈥�, while Rumbles said they had struck a 鈥渄ifferent kind of deal鈥�.

Rumbles said: 鈥淎 lot of merger and acquisition activity has been about adding on more of the same [contracting to contracting, or consulting to consulting].

鈥淭he nice thing about this deal is Kier is adding in our asset advice and high level consulting and I think the market has been looking for that.鈥�

Kier and Mouchel have said that once their road contracts were pooled together, the combined firm manages around a third of the UK鈥檚 road network.

Speaking in April, both Mursell and Rumbles insisted there would be 鈥渧ery few鈥� job losses as a result of the deal. Rumbles argued the deal was about 鈥渃reation of jobs, not job losses鈥�, with job losses restricted mainly to duplicated 鈥渃orporate functions鈥�, including 鈥渕y job, and my CFO鈥�.

Rumbles said he would step down when the transaction closed, but would be 鈥渁vailable to Haydn and the Kier team鈥� if help was needed after that on strategy.

The deal is the culmination of a remarkable turnaround in Mouchel鈥檚 fortunes over the past four years.

Mouchel was forced to delist from the London stock exchange, restructure and sell up to its banks in 2012 following a run of bad financial news the previous year, including an 拢8.5m blackhole uncovered in its accounts, which prompted the-then chief executive Richard Cuthbert to step down and make way for Grant Rumbles in October 2011.

Rumbles has led a transformation in the company鈥檚 fortunes, with the firm posting 拢16.5m pre-tax profit on 拢616.6m revenue in its latest financial results for the year to September 2014.