Bank seeks leaders for Jarvis break-up

Close Brothers, the investment bank, wants two directors from outside construction to lead its proposed Jarvis boarding party. The pair would be selected for their break-up skills.
Sources dismissed rumours that Peterhouse pair Alan Robertson and John O'Kane were being lined up to head the boarding party. Robertson is chief executive of Peterhouse, while O'Kane stands to lose his current job as finance director at Peterhouse if Babcock's £96m bid gets the go-ahead as Babcock has not made him a job offer.
Three others seen as contenders have ruled themselves out for the boarding party. They are: Andrew Gay, formerly the head of Drake & Scull; Brian May, until recently chief executive of HBG Construction; and Peterhouse chairman David Jackson.
Last Friday, Close Brothers attempted unsuccessfully to meet Steven Norris, Jarvis chairman and Tory candidate for London Mayor.
Kevin Hyde was promoted to chief executive of Jarvis after the resignation of Paris Moayedi 12 months ago. The boarding party calls for the replacement of both Hyde and Alistair Rae, Jarvis acting finance director.
Jarvis' finances have been under fierce scrutiny since the group's house broker, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DKW), published a note on 7 May that calculated the group's PFI business must have lost £15m in the year to 31 March 2004.
DKW said Jarvis was sailing close to the wind with its banking covenants.
More alarm bells rang when Jarvis moved the anticipated date of its next results back by a week. The reason given was that by moving the day from 10 June to 17 June the results of the London mayoral election will be out of the way.
Analysts noted that the last time Jarvis put back its results it stemmed from a black-hole issue in 1999.
One of those approached to head up a proposed buy-out of Jarvis 12 months ago said: "We found there wasn't much to buy. The one piece of silver is its TubeLines stake. Insiders were telling me six months ago that Jarvis needed an £80m write-off. It should have come when Moayedi went, but didn't."
A Jarvis spokesman said: "Steven Norris and the Jarvis board are in total support of the executive management team. They are performing a first class job under very difficult circumstances, particularly in the current work they are undertaking regarding the business review."