Construction giant Balfour Beatty has rejected the second proposed merger from Carillion having walked away from a previous £3bn deal after which speculation began about the prospect of a hostile takeover.

Balfour Beatty today released a statement, detailing the reasons for rejecting the merger offer stating that the new offer didn’t address the concerns of the board.

The main stumbling block in the last round of talks was the sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff, the US design consultancy owned by Balfour Beatty and which will be sold off in the next couple of months.

 

According to the Financial Times, shares in Balfour Beatty were 2 per cent higher at 242p in early London trading, while Carillion was up just over 2p at 323p.

We’ll see how this one pans out, however this could be a blessing in disguise for the construction industry in the UK as the merger of the two companies could have seen a reduction in the workforce, and would have produced a group which other companies would have found it increasingly difficult to compete against.