Balfour maintains opposition to Carillion tie-up

Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty today said it remained opposed to rival Carillion’s plans for a £3 billion merger.

The groups had agreed to a tie-up last month, but talks broke down after Carillion said it would only press ahead if Balfour cancelled the planned sale of a US subsidiary, Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Carillion has since tried to sweeten its offer by promising to pay an additional 8.5p a share dividend to Balfour investors and told them the creation of a new FTSE 100 company will result in £175 million a year in cost savings by 2016.

But Balfour – which has pledged to return up to £200m to its shareholders following the sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff – today reiterated its belief that merging with Carillion “is not in the best interests” of its investors.