Latest:
Mapeley all set for Ballast PFI takeover
16:08 22 Oct 2003
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Mapeley, the outsourcing specialist that is actively looking to
move into PFI, is reported to be making progress in it negotiations
with Deloitte & Touche, Ballast plc's receiver, about buying
the firm's PFI division.
A source told CJ that while the receiver is talking of "trying to drum up further interest", in reality Mapeley is in a one-horse race and a deal will be announced within days.
Netherlands-based Ballast Nedam's shock decision to put the UK company into administration has hit Ballast's current employees and its pensioners, as well as the group's many subcontractors and suppliers.
The UK business had failed to find any buyers despite being on the market for over 18 months. The problem is said to be a £50m deficit in its £200m pension fund.
More than 500 of Ballast's 1,000 employees are being made redundant. The only ones guaranteed employment are the 50 in the PFI division, another 50 in FM and those needed to keep on-going schemes alive.
Ballast employees feel they have been duped by Ballast Nedam into encouraging subcontractors to keep working. One told CJ: "Many of us had been asked to explain the earlier difficulties to subcontractors in order to convince them to continue to work for us. Some of these companies face ruin having ploughed their own savings and property into their businesses."
A second source said: "Parts of Ballast plc will have to be sold, or its contracts novated within two weeks as clients need to see that their contracts keep moving. But subcontractors, already fearful that they won't get a penny for work done to date, are at a standstill.
"These are the ones who will really lose, both their livelihood and their homes - many smaller subcontractors use their home to guarantee their bank loans."
Meanwhile, CJ has heard that Ballast Nedam may have sought to divert the facilities management income streams from its completed school PFI schemes in Portsmouth, Dudley and Caerphilly into the parent company rather than allow the money to go to Ballast plc and its creditors.
It is not known whether it has succeeded in this aim, although such a move may incur the scrutiny of the receiver.
A spokeswoman for Ballast Nedam declined to comment.
A source told CJ that while the receiver is talking of "trying to drum up further interest", in reality Mapeley is in a one-horse race and a deal will be announced within days.
Netherlands-based Ballast Nedam's shock decision to put the UK company into administration has hit Ballast's current employees and its pensioners, as well as the group's many subcontractors and suppliers.
The UK business had failed to find any buyers despite being on the market for over 18 months. The problem is said to be a £50m deficit in its £200m pension fund.
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More than 500 of Ballast's 1,000 employees are being made redundant. The only ones guaranteed employment are the 50 in the PFI division, another 50 in FM and those needed to keep on-going schemes alive.
Ballast employees feel they have been duped by Ballast Nedam into encouraging subcontractors to keep working. One told CJ: "Many of us had been asked to explain the earlier difficulties to subcontractors in order to convince them to continue to work for us. Some of these companies face ruin having ploughed their own savings and property into their businesses."
A second source said: "Parts of Ballast plc will have to be sold, or its contracts novated within two weeks as clients need to see that their contracts keep moving. But subcontractors, already fearful that they won't get a penny for work done to date, are at a standstill.
"These are the ones who will really lose, both their livelihood and their homes - many smaller subcontractors use their home to guarantee their bank loans."
Meanwhile, CJ has heard that Ballast Nedam may have sought to divert the facilities management income streams from its completed school PFI schemes in Portsmouth, Dudley and Caerphilly into the parent company rather than allow the money to go to Ballast plc and its creditors.
It is not known whether it has succeeded in this aim, although such a move may incur the scrutiny of the receiver.
A spokeswoman for Ballast Nedam declined to comment.
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