Carillion

History

Carillion was created in July 1999, by a demerger from Tarmac, which was founded in 1903; the new company included the former Tarmac Construction contracting business and Tarmac Professional Services.

Acquisitions

In September 2001, Carillion acquired the 51% of GT Rail Maintenance it did not already own, thereby creating Carillion Rail. In August 2002, Carillion bought Citex Management Services for £11.5 million and, in March 2005, it acquired Planned Maintenance Group for circa £40 million.

After that, in February 2006, Carillion went on to acquire Mowlem, another United Kingdom support services firm, for circa £350 million and in February 2008, it acquired Alfred McAlpine, yet another United Kingdom support services firm, for £572 million. Then, in October 2008, Carillion bought Van Bots Construction in Canada for £14.3 million.

In April 2011, Carillion bought Eaga, an energy efficiency business, for £306 million and in December 2012, it acquired a 49 per cent interest in The Bouchier Group, a company providing services in the Athabasca oil sands area, for £24m. Then, in October 2013, the company bought the facilities management business of John Laing.

In August 2014, the company spent several weeks attempting a merger with rival Balfour Beatty. Three offers were made; the last bid, which valued Balfour Beatty at £2.1 billion, was unanimously rejected by the Balfour Beatty board on 19 August 2014. Balfour refused to allow an extension of time for negotiations which could have prompted a fourth bid. Carillion subsequently announced the same day it would no longer pursue a merger with its rival. In December 2014, Carillion acquired a 60% stake in Rokstad Power Corporation, a Canadian transmission and distribution business, for £33 million.

Carillion acquired 100% of the Outland Group, a specialist supplier of camps and catering at remote locations in Canada, in May 2015 and a majority stake in Ask Real Estate, a Manchester-based developer, in January 2016.

Blacklisting involvement

In 2009, Carillion was revealed as a subscriber to an illegal construction industry blacklisting body, The Consulting Association (TCA), though its inclusion on the list was mainly due to its previous ownership of Crown House Engineering (acquired by Laing O'Rourke in 2004), and previous use of TCA within Mowlem (acquired by Carillion in 2006). Carillion made two voluntary submissions to the House of Commons' Scottish Affairs Committee, one in September 2012, and another in March 2013, relating to its involvement with TCA.

In July 2014, Carillion was one of eight businesses involved in the 2014 launch of the Construction Workers Compensation Scheme, though this was condemned as a "PR stunt" by the GMB union, and described by the Scottish Affairs Select Committee as "an act of bad faith". As one of the contributors to the scheme, Carillion reported in August 2016 "a non-recurring operating charge of £10.5 million" representing the compensation and associated costs it expected to pay.

Operations

Carillion provides facilities management services and also undertakes a range of construction projects including roads and hospitals. Most of its business is in the United Kingdom, but it also operates in several other regions, such as Canada, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Carillion Rail carries out track renewals on the rail network, and contract work for Network Rail.

In November 2013, Carillion was fined £180,000 plus £28,551 in costs for breaches of health and safety regulations, which led to a motorcyclist being completely paralysed in an accident, on the A12 road in England. The Health and Safety Executive said that Carillion had failed to put up signs, to warn motorists of a road closure in good time.

Its subsidiary, Clinicenta, had a contract to run a treatment centre at Lister Hospital in Stevenage which was terminated in 2013 after the Care Quality Commission found the unit was not meeting minimum standards.

In November 2016 it was reported that Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust planned to end its estates and facilities services contract, awarded in April 2014 with the company after nurses had been forced to clean the wards because of a shortage of 70 cleaning staff.

Major projects

Major projects involving Carillion have included:

In October 2013, on a visit to China, George Osborne announced plans for a £800m project to be known as Airport City Manchester and due to be completed in phases, for which, Carillion would partner with Chinese firm Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG).

Long term Contracts

In 2009 Ontario Ministry of Transportation awarded Carillion eight multi-year contracts (C$87 million per year) for snow removal and salting operations on several 400-series highways in Ontario.