Balfour building up to pounds 200m water giant deal.SOUTH Staffordshire Water South Staffordshire Water PLC is a privately-owned water company supplying water to parts of Staffordshire and the West Midlands, England. They are one of only three water companies that are recognised by the industry regulator, OFWAT, as displaying top efficiency (Band A) for both could be swallowed up by engineering giant Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY) is a British based construction and civil engineering company based in central London. It is the largest construction company in the UK, and the 15th largest in the world.[3] It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. in a pounds 200 million takeover deal, it has been revealed. The Walsall-based firm, which serves 1.25 million customers throughout the West Midlands, is said to be in talks with the group, one of Britain's biggest engineering and construction firms. The report comes two months after the water company was said to have appointed banking advisers Dresdner Kleinwort Dresdner Kleinwort (DKIB) is the investment bank of Dresdner Bank AG, part of Allianz since July 2001. Headquartered in London and Frankfurt and with an international network including offices in the financial centres of New York and Tokyo, Dresdner Kleinwort provides a wide range to carry out a strategic review. South Staffordshire South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south. executive chairman David Sankey today denied suggestions that the West Midland group was already in exclusive talks with Balfour Beatty. "We are owned by venture capitalists - venture capitalists do look at their portfolios on a regular basis," he said. "These sort of exercises go on all the time. You can think of any number of people who might be interested in this business." The Walsall company was bought by Bahrain's First Islamic Investment Bank, now known as Arcapita, three years ago in a pounds 143 million deal. Before being taken over, South Staffordshire spun off its nonregulated business, which became Homeserve. The water company was founded more than 150 years ago and supplies homes and businesses across a 580 sqmarea of the West Midlands. South Staffordshire Water currently employs a total of 1,500 people, including nearly 400 at its Walsall headquarters. Balfour Beatty, which bought Texas-based contractor Centex in February in a pounds 184 million deal, declined to comment. |
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