Kier buys Ashwood Homes for £23.5m

Kier has bought Ashwood Homes, a regional housebuilder in Lincolnshire and north Cambridgeshire, for £23.5m.

Kier subsidiaries Allsion Homes and Twigden Homes have acquired the land, work in progress and related assets from Ashwood. A total of £15m was paid on completion; the remaining £8.5m will be deferred until March 2006.

The land acquired includes 389 plots with planning consent.

Kier chief executive John Dodds said: "This transaction has provided us with a good opportunity to acquire land off market in areas in which we are currently operating and will provide a return on our investment immediately. It is similar in nature to the Tudor Homes transaction completed last year, which has proved to be very successful."