OFT clears Carillion takeover of Mowlem

Carillion's proposed takeover of Mowlem continues to gather momentum: the Office of Fair Trading has cleared the deal.

Furthermore, Carillion’s unchallenged £310m bid for Mowlem has won the overwhelming support of its shareholders. More than 99% of the votes cast at Carillion’s extraordinary general meeting on Monday were in favour of the deal.

Mowlem shareholders get their opportunity to vote on the deal next Monday (30 January).

Balfour Beatty’s counter-bid for Mowlem never materialised. “We figured it every which way we could,” said a Balfour spokesman. “All the divisions had an appeal to us, but the sums didn’t add up to the value we would have had to pay. We’d have had to offer upwards of 240p.

“We’d not found anything horrible in due diligence, although we couldn’t do as much as normal. When Carillion put the news of its bid out, we were already talking to Mowlem, but due diligence normally takes a month or two and it was not possible after the news broke.”

Carillion will sell two of Mowlem’s divisions on to Balfour. Charter, a construction management firm with a strong presence in education projects in Texas, will dovetail neatly with Balfour’s US Heery division. And Edgar Allen, the UK rail track products manufacturer, will be added to Balfour Beatty Railtrack Systems.