Buyout groups said to be circling Carillion carcass
Buyout companies and investment groups are thought to be circling collapsed infrastructure giant Carillion, hoping to pick up some of its assets for bargain prices.
The Official Receiver handling the liquidation of the construction and services group, and the team from accountants PwC acting as special managers will eventually sell off parts of Carillion to raise cash to pay off its creditors.
In the meantime the Government is trying to protect thousands of jobs at the compan and in among its supply chain companies working on hundreds of private and public sector contracts.
Reports at the weekend suggested there is already interest from private investors, including the Canadian fund manager Brookfield and British private equity group Endless, in buying some of Carillion's assets.
But they will be looking to pay bargain prices. Carillion bosses had been trying to sell off parts of the business last year to try and keep the business afloat but had little success. They ran out of time and money last weekend when the Government refused to bail the company out.
Reports now suggest there could be multiple bids for the more attractive parts of Carillion, but potential investors are worried that the longer any sale process takes to get under way, the less value there may be in those assets.
Currently the Government's focus has been on salvaging the company's public sector contracts and trying to save some of the 19,500 Carillion jobs in the UK and the thousands more that relied on the company in its supply chain companies. It is also continuing to pay those working on private sector contracts until the end of the month as it seeks to get to grips with one of the most complex company failures in recent times.
