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Construction 1997
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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George Wimpey has abandoned attempts to sell Ardel, its Australian land development business, due to turbulence in the world's financial markets. 27-Dec-1997 Hanson has agreed an asset swap with Martin Marietta Materials in the US which will result in its Cornerstone aggregates business acquiring the Harding Street quarry in Indianapolis. 23-Dec-1997 NCK Cranes has been rescued from bankruptcy by Staffordshire Public Works, and it will now double production at its Ipswich plant to about 35 units a year. 22-Dec-1997 Blue Circle is planning to build a £180 cement works at Holborough in Kent as part of a programme to improve UK productivity. 16-Dec-1997 Pilkington is acquiring a 10% stake in the Egyptian Glass Company, which is building a float glass plant near Cairo, for undisclosed terms. 16-Dec-1997 Morris Group, the regional housebuilder, has postponed plans to raise £10m in a flotation due to market conditions. 11-Dec-1997 P&O is raising £226m from the flotation of its Bovis Homes housebuilding business, which is less than the £250m originally hoped for, and the money will be used to reduce debt and finance the expansion of its international trading activities, such as cruises. 05-Dec-1997 Taylor Woodrow has won a £3.75m contract to build a new stand for Birmingham City football club. 04-Dec-1997 Bryant Homes, Leech Homes and Swan Hill have formed a consortium to submit a planning application to build 2,500 homes north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne, which would create up to 10,000 jobs. 02-Dec-1997 Tilbury Douglas has been selected as preferred bidder to build a £55m prison near Salford. 01-Dec-1997 Merewood, the Cumbrian housebuilder, is planning to raise up to £7m in a flotation to help it benefit from the recovery in the housing market. 01-Dec-1997 Merck is to close its liquid crystal factory in Poole with the loss of 200 jobs, having failed to find a market for the technology that is used to darken windows. 29-Nov-1997 The government is asking the European Commission to refer to the OFT the takeover of Redland by Lafarge, as it believes there are competition concerns in the market for ready-mixed concrete. 28-Nov-1997 Green Property of Ireland is to raise £68m to expand in industrial and office development in the UK and Ireland and buy out GE Capital's share of their joint venture. 26-Nov-1997 Mitsubishi Estates has sought planning permission for the £200m redevelopment of Paternoster Square in London, and the plans include office, retail and leisure facilities. 22-Nov-1997 Heiton Holdings, the Dublin-based building materials company, has raised £15m in a private placement in the US in order to refinance debt and fund future acquisitions. 20-Nov-1997 TBI is seeking planning permission to build a £100m business complex near Belfast airport, that would have the potential to create 15,000 jobs. 19-Nov-1997 British Land and Crest Nicholson have formed a consortium that has been chosen to develop a £200m commercial and residential scheme on the north side of the harbour in Bristol. 18-Nov-1997 Morris Group, the housebuilder, is planning to raise about £10m through a flotation in order to generate funds for future growth. 17-Nov-1997 Banner Homes, the housebuilder, is to demerge its commercial property business into a new company called Ascot Commercial, in order to give it greater freedom to develop the business. 15-Nov-1997 Sharpe & Fisher has acquired a further two timber and builders merchants for £1.75m, giving it a total of 33 branches in the south of England. 12-Nov-1997 Saint Gobain of France is preparing a £800m bid for Redland's 56.5% stake in Redland Braas Building, its German roof tile business. 10-Nov-1997 Swiss Re is buying the site of London's former Baltic Exchange from Trafalgar House, which means that the proposed development of the Millennium Tower on the site will not go-ahead. 07-Nov-1997 Saint Gobain is planning to build a $103m flat glass production line in the UK with start-up due by the end of 1999, in order to optimise its logistics. 05-Nov-1997 Bruntcliffe Aggregates is planning to raise up to £8.3m in an open offer in order to reduce gearing and provide working capital. 04-Nov-1997 Costain's latest refinancing plans have been approved by shareholders, which will result in Skanska of Sweden acquiring a 7.6% stake with the option to increase to 40% over the next three years. 04-Nov-1997 Redland has said it would consider a full break-up of the group in order to improve value for shareholders, as it continues to fend off a £1.67bn hostile bid from Lafarge of France. 01-Nov-1997 BPB, the plasterboard company, has detailed its international expansion plans, which include plants in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and a possible move into Russia, but it has shelved plans for a US acquisition. 31-Oct-1997 Lilleshall has acquired Prosercal, the French windows and doors business, for £2.2m. 30-Oct-1997 Pilkington has announced plans for a major restructuring that will cut 6,000 jobs and reduce overheads by £100m, with at least 60% of its building products outlets being sold or closed in the UK and Germany. 30-Oct-1997 Millennium Point, the £112m science and technology centre planned for Birmingham, is now expected to go ahead following the pledge of £6m from six sponsors. 28-Oct-1997 Chesterton International is said to be considering plans to sell its residential estate agency business, raising up to £15m, in order to focus on surveying and commercial agencies. 25-Oct-1997 Pilkington is preparing to announce thousands of job cuts at its European glass plants as well as the closure or sale of many downstream businesses that make double glazing and mirrors. 25-Oct-1997 Lavendon Group, the powered access equipment rental company, is to raise about £11m in a rights issue in order to fund the expansion of its network of depots. 23-Oct-1997 Redrow has bought a 140 acre site in Dunfermline with potential for 1,600 new homes. 22-Oct-1997 Richard Ellis has ended talks on a merger with Donaldsons following its recently-announced acceptance of an offer from Insignia of the US. 22-Oct-1997 Richard Ellis's UK estate agencies have agreed to a takeover by Insignia Financial Group of the US. 20-Oct-1997 Hyder is acquiring a 20% stake in the China Water Company, the Hong Kong-based company that contracts others to build water plants in China, for £6.7m. 16-Oct-1997 Hanson is said to have ruled out making a counter bid for Redland, the aggregates company facing a hostile bid from Lafarge, as it would probably cause a problem with the Monopolies & Mergers Commission. 16-Oct-1997 Berkeley Group, the housebuilder, has launched a £126m rights issue, using a discounted structure that meets OFT concerns about fund-raising methods used in the City. 15-Oct-1997 Conrad Ritblat Group is acquiring Speciality Shops, the retail property concern, creating a merged company called Milner Group with a £185m portfolio. 15-Oct-1997 Hanson's US subsidiary, Cornerstone-Spectrum, is selling its stake in Koppers Industries, the producer of carbon compounds, for $52m. 15-Oct-1997 Harrisons & Crosfield is to sell Moore's Lumber and Building Supplies, its US builders' merchant business, to MLBS Acquisition for £39m. 14-Oct-1997 Rugby Group has acquired a 34% stake in Cementownia Chelm, the Polish cement maker, for $25m and has an option to increase its stake to 75% within three years. 14-Oct-1997 CRH has acquired New York Trap Rock, the US aggregates company, for £25m. 14-Oct-1997 P&O has confirmed plans to float Bovis Homes, its housebuilding subsidiary, in early December, as part of a plan to raise £1bn from the disposal of non-core businesses. 14-Oct-1997 Newport Holdings, the property investment company, has failed in its attempt to acquire Delyn Group for £8.4m, receiving less than 1% of acceptances from shareholders. 14-Oct-1997 Lafarge of France has launched a £1.67bn hostile takeover bid for Redland, a move which would create the world's largest aggregates group. 14-Oct-1997 Costain, the troubled construction group, is to raise £47m to clear debts in its third refinancing bid in 15 months, and Skanska of Sweden has been revealed as a new investor. 11-Oct-1997 CRH has made two US acquisitions for a total £16.4m - Trenwyth Industries of Pennsylvania, the maker of masonry products, and Akron Brick and Block of Ohio. 07-Oct-1997 Alexander Russell, the Glasgow-based quarrying company, has asked auditors to investigate unauthorised transactions at its concrete division, in which excessive rebates were given to a major customer. 04-Oct-1997 Pilkington, the glass maker, is said to be planning 4,000 jobs cuts in order to save £200m a year, with some of the jobs being lost through the rationalisation of its distribution depots. 03-Oct-1997 Redland, the building materials company under pressure from shareholders, has admitted that it could be vulnerable to a takeover bid. 03-Oct-1997 Hepworth, the building materials company, is planning a major strategic review in order to identify which core activities can achieve sustainable profit growth. 01-Oct-1997 MEPC is selling over £1bn of property in the US and Australia in order to return funds to shareholders and re-invest the remainder in the UK property market. 24-Sep-1997 Tarmac is planning to expand further into rail maintenance work as its new roads business has fallen to 15% of group turnover. 24-Sep-1997 Rugby Group has threatened to sell any business that does not achieve a 20% return on assets by 1999, and possible candidates include Rugby Building Products in the US and its UK joinery business. 23-Sep-1997 Redland is selling Redland Route, the French road-surfacing business, to management for a nominal sum, and is negotiating a joint-venture deal for its French aggregates business, as part of a strategy to focus on core operations. 22-Sep-1997 Ultraframe, the conservatory roofing systems company, is expected to be valued at about £100m when it floats in October, and it hopes the move will give it access to equity finance for expansion. 18-Sep-1997 Taylor Woodrow has begun a major review of its construction division in order to focus on projects with higher margins. 17-Sep-1997 John Mowlem is expanding into two new business areas - rail maintenance and home repairs for the insurance industry, in order to fill a gap left by its recently demerged scaffolding business. 17-Sep-1997 Capita Group is acquiring a 60% stake in Tozer Gallagher, the quantity surveyor, for £4m. 16-Sep-1997 Costain could be facing its second refinancing of the past year as Skanska, the Swedish construction group, is in discussions over a debt-to-equity swap which would leave it with a stake of up to 20% in the UK contractor. 15-Sep-1997 Alfred McAlpine is setting up a joint venture with Bryant and Bovis to build a £450m housing development seven miles west of Cambridge, involving the construction of 3,300 new homes over the next decade. 15-Sep-1997 Alfred McAlpine is selling West Venture, the Californian housebuilding company, to Lennar Homes for £12.2m. 10-Sep-1997 Blue Circle is to continue with plans to double its output of cement in Malaysia despite the Malaysian government's decision to cut back on construction projects. 09-Sep-1997 P&O is planning to float its Bovis Homes housebuilding business in November, with a valuation expected to be around £250m. 08-Sep-1997 Construction output in the three months to June was up 3% on last year, with housing up 16%, private commercial work up 20%, and private industrial work up 13%, according to the Department of the Environment. 06-Sep-1997 Aggregate Industries has expanded its US sand and gravel business with the acquisition of assets in Virginia from Solite and Mid Atlantic Materials for £8m. 06-Sep-1997 Barcom has acquired Fidelity Plant Hire, which has depots in Corby and Leeds, for up to £2.1m. 06-Sep-1997 MEPC and Burford Group have called off their merger discussions, which would have created an enlarged property company with a portfolio of almost £4bn, following news of the talks becoming public. 04-Sep-1997 Greycoat, the property company, is planning to demolish Moor House in the City of London and replace it with a large office building offering three times the current space. 02-Sep-1997 Plans are being developed for a £150m convention centre at King's Cross, London, with the backing of the London Chamber of Commerce, the London Tourist Board and the Confederation of British Industry. 01-Sep-1997 Mitsubishi Estates is proposing plans for the £150m redevelopment of Paternoster Square in London which include the construction of five buildings up to eight storeys high and a leisure complex. 01-Sep-1997 Kingspan, the Irish building products concern, is looking to acquire insulation companies in the UK and continental Europe and develop distribution in south-east Asia. 29-Aug-1997 Britannic Group is buying the timber merchanting division of JO Walker from Springwood for £2m, and Springwood will use the proceeds to expand its leisure business. 27-Aug-1997 JCB, the construction equipment maker, is planning to move into the industrial lift truck business, with a new design called Teletruk that uses a telescopic arm rather than a platform. 26-Aug-1997 Exports of building materials fell by 9.3% in the first quarter of 1997 to £888m due to the strength of the pound, while imports fell 7% to £1.27bn, according to the Department of the Environment. 12-Aug-1997 Marley is buying Flexco, the US flooring company, from Robbins for £25m. 12-Aug-1997 Construction orders in the second-quarter of 1997 were 5% higher than in the first-quarter, and 8% higher than last year, according to government figures. 08-Aug-1997 New homes started by builders were up 10% in the second quarter of 1997 compared to last year, but 12% down on the first quarter, according to government figures. 05-Aug-1997 Ultraframe, the manufacturer of conservatory roofing systems, is to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange later this year. 04-Aug-1997 Taylor Woodrow is buying 16.5 acres of residential land north of San Francisco at a cost of £4.6m, and hopes to expand further into this area in the future. 01-Aug-1997 Ennstone, the building materials company, is in discussions that could lead to its acquisition of Bruntcliffe Aggregates, the quarrying company. 01-Aug-1997 The construction industry is having severe difficulties recruiting skilled workers due to a shortage of bricklayers, carpenters and joiners, according to the Construction Confederation. 30-Jul-1997 Ashtead Group, the plant hire company, is planning a listing in the US in order to make its shares more available to international investors and to benefit from higher US ratings. 29-Jul-1997 Britannia Group, the construction company, is to acquire British Building & Engineering Appliances for about £8.4m. 26-Jul-1997 Arlington Securities, British Aerospace's property company, is planning a 64-acre business park opposite Manchester airport, which is expected to provide 4,000 jobs. 23-Jul-1997 Mitie, the building services company, has acquired the remaining shares in two of its subsidiaries - Mitie Contract Services (Eastern) for £0.6m and Mitie Engineering Maintenance (West) for about £0.2m. 23-Jul-1997 Brierley Investments of New Zealand has increased its stake in Ibstock, the bricks maker, to 29.9%, the maximum allowed before starting a bid for the company. 22-Jul-1997 Terex of the US is planning a big increase in production at its construction equipment plant in Motherwell and the 600-strong workforce is expected to rise by up to a fifth. 21-Jul-1997 Construction output rose by 5.7% in the second quarter, the fifth consecutive quarterly increase, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 15-Jul-1997 Hyundai has dropped Sir Robert McAlpine as the main contractor for its £1bn microchip plant in Dunfermline, following a disagreement over pricing. 12-Jul-1997 Streamline has won a £100m road maintenance contract that covers non-trunk roads in Cheshire. 09-Jul-1997 Hanson is planning to sell its Grove cranes business, which could be worth up to £400m. 01-Jul-1997 Heywood Williams has increased its stake in Coldseal, the PVCu windows company, from 35% to 65% at a cost of £12m. 25-Jun-1997 George Wimpey has sold a package of office and warehouse properties, including the Vantage West building in west London, generating £30m. 24-Jun-1997 Morrison Construction is merging its quarrying operation in the north of Scotland with Minorco's Tilcon (Scotland) subsidiary, thus combining 14 quarry locations. 17-Jun-1997 Grafton Group has bought Abbey Rose, the builders merchant, for £1.75m. 14-Jun-1997 Meyer International, the builders merchant, is looking for acquisitions in the US as well as bolt-on acquisitions for its UK branch network. 12-Jun-1997 Marshalls wants to swap its US concrete products business for UK building material assets, in order to help reverse a fall in company profits. 11-Jun-1997 High-Point, the road building company, is selling its US subsidiary for £1.35m and bringing in new management as part of a shake-up. 11-Jun-1997 RMC is acquiring a 51% stake in Dalmacijacement, the Croatian cement producer, for £34m. 10-Jun-1997 Ward Holdings, the Kent-based building company, has been put up for sale and the founding family is expected to net about £16m from their 51% stake. 10-Jun-1997 Philip Holzmann of Germany is to sell its 29% stake in Tilbury Douglas, the UK construction company, to institutions in order to raise about £64m. 07-Jun-1997 Pilkington is to cut over 2,000 jobs at its glass plants across Europe in an effort to become the lowest cost producer in the world. 06-Jun-1997 Building industry orders rose by 10% in April, with a big increase in private industrial and commercial work, according to government figures. 06-Jun-1997 John Mowlem is to raise £55m from the placing of a 49% stake in SGB, its scaffolding business. 06-Jun-1997 The UK building industry is facing the possibility of a national strike, with unions having rejected an offer to increase craft pay rates. 04-Jun-1997 Balfour Beatty is setting up a joint venture with First Philippine Holdings which will buy Ecco-Asia, the construction and steel fabrication concern based in the Philippines. 21-May-1997 The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham has secured private sector investment to build four new halls at a cost of £65m by September 1998, creating over 2,000 jobs. 21-May-1997 Allen has acquired PS Turner Holdings, the Yorkshire-based builder, for £8.7m. 20-May-1997 Kvaerner has sold its 26% stake in Amec, the construction group, to institutions and other investors, making a profit of £22m. 16-May-1997 Construction orders fell by 5% in the first quarter of this year compared to the final quarter of last year, according to government figures. 09-May-1997 Grafton Group has acquired a 25% stake in British Dredging, the builders merchant and sand and gravel supplier, for £6.3m. 08-May-1997 The number of private homes started by builders in the first quarter of this year rose 29% to 41,300 compared to last year, according to the Environment Department. 07-May-1997 Alfred McAlpine has been revealed as the company in bid talks that could lead to the acquisition of Raine, the housebuilder and contractor. 26-Apr-1997 Legal & General has announced a £400m plan for the redevelopment of Bracknell town centre, creating 4,000 jobs. 23-Apr-1997 Raine, the troubled housebuilder and contractor, is in discussions with an unnamed potential bidder. 22-Apr-1997 John Mowlem is to float 49% of SGB, the construction access equipment company, which will value it at over £100m and raise money to invest in other parts of the business. 16-Apr-1997 The housing stock in the UK is the oldest in Europe, with a declining rate of replacement by new homes, according to research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 14-Apr-1997 Construction output is forecast to increase 7% in real terms by 1999, getting close to record levels and fuelled by a big increase in the housing market, according to the National Council of Building Material Producers. 14-Apr-1997 Tarmac is in discussions with two companies about the possible sale of its Castle Plant Services plant hire business. 09-Apr-1997 Grafton Group has acquired Wessex Builders Merchants for £3.5m. 08-Apr-1997 Camas Building Materials has acquired Kenny and Murphy, a Bridgwater-based building block manufacturer, in order to strengthen its market position in South West England. 02-Apr-1997 Marley is planning to increase prices for concrete roof tiles by up to 10% this year in order to benefit from the improvement in the UK housing market. 20-Mar-1997 Gibbs & Dandy has acquired Miller, Morris and Brooker Group, the holding company for a builders merchants group, for up to £3.6m. 14-Mar-1997 WSP Holdings is acquiring Graham Consulting Group, the civil engineering consultancy, for up to £3.6m. 12-Mar-1997 House builders started 36% more new homes in the three months to the end of January compared to last year, reaching the highest level since 1989, according to government figures. 08-Mar-1997 Ibstock is selling five brick plants to Ambion Brick of the US for £53m, in order to comply with a regulatory ruling following its acquisition of Redland's UK brick division. 06-Mar-1997 Carlton Communications and Hampton Trust are planning to build the largest tower building in Birmingham as part of a £200m leisure complex. 28-Feb-1997 Birmingham council has approved plans for a £60m expansion to the National Exhibition Centre, which will give it four new halls. 26-Feb-1997 Amey has won a £40m three-year contract to manage and maintain major roads in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. 25-Feb-1997 Galliford is selling its Galliford Roadstone construction materials business to a management buy-out for £2.5m. 22-Feb-1997 Sunderland city council is planning a £70m redevelopment of the city centre, a project that will create about 500 jobs. 19-Feb-1997 Focal, a consortium thought to include ICF Kaiser of the US, is preparing plans for a £100m rail freight terminal near Heathrow. 14-Feb-1997 Cardiff county council is planning a £200m industrial development, including a food park, which will create 9,500 jobs over the next 15 years. 13-Feb-1997 Heron International is planning a £200m project to develop housing and commercial premises in south Wales over the next seven years. 13-Feb-1997 Construction orders rose 8% in the last three months of 1996, but were 2% down on the same period in 1995, according to the Department of the Environment. 12-Feb-1997 The government is to provide £43m to help fund the rebuilding of Manchester city centre. 11-Feb-1997 Tarmac and Amec have won the £100m contract to build a second runway at Manchester airport. 11-Feb-1997 Newman Tonks has sold Jenkins, its US timber window frames company, to a buy-out team for £3.8m. 31-Jan-1997 Hanson is looking to acquire building materials companies, particularly in the US aggregates sector. 30-Jan-1997 The Building Research Establishment is to be sold to management, following the announcement that the management bid has been chosen as preferred bidder. 29-Jan-1997 Polypipe is acquiring TDI, the building materials concern, for an initial £3.1m. 29-Jan-1997 Tarmac has ended its dispute with the government over the privatisation of the Property Services Agency, having agreed to repay £22.5m of the £50m it was paid by the government to take away the PSA projects division. 25-Jan-1997 Natural Stone Holdings, the South African quarry operator, is planning to raise £6m in a London flotation, and will use the proceeds to help it develop the use of bowenite as a building material. 20-Jan-1997 Construction order books are now at a three-year peak with a good rise in the final quarter of 1996, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 18-Jan-1997 English China Clays is to cut 300 jobs, mainly in St Austell, due to increased competition. 14-Jan-1997 CRH has announced acquisitions worth up to £30m, including DIY outlets and building supplies depots in the Netherlands, a French builders merchant, a brickmaker and maker of skylights and smoke ventilation systems. 10-Jan-1997 Epwin Group, the maker of PVC doors and windows, is acquiring Evergreen for an initial £750,000. 09-Jan-1997 Autolink Concessionaires, a company owned jointly by Amey, Sir Robert McAlpine and Taylor Woodrow Construction, has won a £370m contract to build and operate a motorway linking the M6 at Carlisle with the A74 south of Glasgow. 08-Jan-1997 Construction industry output is forecast to rise by an annual 2-3% over the next three years, the best outlook for the last 6 years, according to the Building Employers Confederation. 03-Jan-1997 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. 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