For sale: Alfred McAlpine Plant Services for £20m

Carillion has put Alfred McAlpine Plant Services up for sale for an estimated £20m.

In early efforts to offload businesses not close to its core activities, the firm is rumoured to be looking for a trade sale rather than private equity.

The plant division includes an outsourcing service to the quarry industry and an uninterruptible power supply business.

The sale is understood not to involve the transfer of the Alfred McAlpine management team, while Speedy Hire and BSS have been named as potential buyers.

The division made a profit of £2.5m on turnover of £25m in 2007.

Carillion bought Alfred McAlpine in £574m in February and sold Carillion Asset Management to Speedy Hire for £11m last month.