Staffordshire construction firm sold to French rival
STAFFORDSHIRE construction firm Roger Bullivant has been sold to the French parent company of rival Bachy Soletanche (Bachy) in an undisclosed deal.
Burton on Trent based Bullivant, which is one of the UK’s leading piling and foundation specialists, was established in 1971 by chairman and founder Roger Bullivant.
The firm has grown to be one of the UK’s leading ground engineering businesses and provider of piling and structural building and civil engineering services.
The deal involved the sale of the Roger Bullivant foundation and piling business to the global construction group Soletanche Bachy Entreprise SAS for an undisclosed sum.
A team of advisors, led by Richard Moran and Rachel Dean of law firm Clarion and Jonathan Steed of Grant Thornton transaction advisory services, advised on the deal.
In addition to the Burton upon Trent manufacturing centre, Bullivant has seven regional bases in Normanton (Yorkshire), Preston, Alloa, East Boldon (Tyne and Wear), Dartford, Westbury (Wiltshire) and Port Talbot.
It is understood that Bachy and Bullivant will operate as separate trading subsidiaries of the group in the UK and will not be merged.
“This deal sees one of the UK’s construction success stories stabilised in a really tough climate, gain massive opportunities overnight, and offers the potential for the business to grow from its current position within the structure of an international group,” said Mr Moran.
Mr Steed, director at Grant Thornton in Leeds, said: “Bullivant has retained strong market share in certain aspects of ground engineering that made it very attractive to Bachy Soletanche. It is a good strategic fit which takes Bachy Soletanche into a new market segment and so enhances its overall offering.”
Bullivant’s client list includes landmark construction projects for clients including Tesco, Vodafone, Pizza Express and many other household brands. The firm’s piling rigs are also a common sight at building and civil engineering projects across the UK.
