The facilities management arm of construction conglomerate Balfour Beatty is being sold to French energy giant GDF Suez in a move affecting more than 9,000 staff.
The company, which has bases in Castle Bromwich and Solihull, is selling its facilities management arm to GDF Suez for £190 million to focus on major infrastructure projects.
The parent business, known as Balfour Beatty WorkPlace, has big contracts in the UK with organisations and companies including the Department for Work and Pensions, Royal Mail, Sainsbury’s and the NHS. One of its major contracts was the construction of Birmingham’s flagship Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The group earned operating profits of £21 million on revenues of £482 million last year and has a 10-year contract to run services and facilities at the 250-acre Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London, home to last year’s Games. It also won a five-year deal from EDF Energy earlier this year to help maintain West Burton B, a new gas power station in Nottinghamshire.
Balfour boss Andrew McNaughton said the sale was an “important step in our evolution as we intensify our focus on infrastructure”.
More than 9,000 staff across the UK will transfer to GDF Suez Energy Services and work under its Cofely brand.
It will merge with GDF’s energy services arm, which employs 2,200 people in the UK and provides similar services at 13,000 sites.
A spokeswoman for GDF said it does not plan to cut any jobs.
The enlarged business will generate revenues of £800 million.
