Parsons has been a battleground for the two companies as Carillion said it needed Balfour to keep Parsons and its stable cashflow - one third of Balfour’s earnings came from the business - to cover the costs of the merger restructuring.
Carillion even said it wouldcover any Parsons bidder’s costs to the tune of £10m if its merger with Balfour went ahead.
However, Balfour pushed ahead with a sale of Parsons, which it bought for £382m in 2009, in order to focus on fixing its UK construction arm. Problems in that business have forced the group to issue four profit warnings in the past two years.
Steve Marshall, executive chairman of Balfour, said: “The board believes that the sale price of £820m delivers both a significant return on our original investment and a compelling level of value creation for shareholders - which remains the key focus of the Board.
"The sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff follows the recent revaluation of our investments portfolio, which underlines the potential of this division to create value internally and across the Group.
"In the US, our core construction business is well positioned in a recovering market. In the UK we see the potential for margins to progressively recover to peer group levels. Our services business, meanwhile, is well placed to benefit from the growing investment in infrastructure.
"Together, these elements will provide a strong foundation for an incoming Group CEO to take the company forward.”
Carillion declined to comment.
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