Richardson family buys developer in Carillion fire sale

Troubled construction group Carillion has agreed to sell its two-thirds stake in Northern commercial property developer Ask to the Richardson family.

It has sold its 66.6% stake in Ask Real Estate and its 50% interest in Ask Carillion Developments to Dukehill for £13.8m. The deal also wraps up a shareholder loan made by Carillion Construction to Ask Central.

Carillion bought its majority stake in Ask in January 2016 with the aim of creating a £500m pipeline of commercial property development schemes across the Northern Powerhouse region.

Dukehill is owned by the Richardson family, the West Midlands developers who built Merry Hill Shopping Centre and have property interests around the world. It is now run by the second generation – Lee, Carl and Martyn Richardson.

Carillion is looking to shed its non-core interests after an accounting black hole resulted in its share price crashing by 75% in July. Today’s deal follows the £50m disposal of part of its UK healthcare operation last week.

Keith Cochrane, interim chief executive at Carillion, said: “We are pleased to be able to announce further progress. Much remains to be done, and we are continuing to execute our plans to refocus the business, reduce cost and strengthen our balance sheet.”

Manchester-based Ask works with partners on schemes across the North of England. Its major projects have included the re-development of Lancashire Cricket Club’s Old Trafford ground and it worked with Carillion on 101 Embankment, an £80m scheme in Manchester city centre.

Ask’s managing director, John Hughes, and finance director, Jonathan Cross, who together own one-third of Ask Real Estate, will retain their executive positions.

Hughes said: “Richardson’s investment into Ask Real Estate is a huge vote of confidence in the business putting us in a strong position to continue to grow our mixed-use portfolio, and deliver our business plan.”