LEADBITTER GROUP MANAGEMENT TEAM AND BOUYGUES ACQUIRE LEADBITTER

The management team of the Leadbitter Group, led by the founder and current Chief Executive, Bob Rendell, has joined forces with Bouygues Construction subsidiary Bouygues Bâtiment International to acquire Leadbitter from Heijmans NV.

Bob Rendell will remain as Group Chief Executive and Chairman, and Paul Abson will become Deputy Group Chief Executive.

Leadbitter Group management team and Bouygues Bâtiment International signed an agreement with Heijmans NV on December 23, 2010 to acquire the Leadbitter Group. Subject to approval by the European Commission competition authorities, Bouygues Bâtiment International will own a majority of stake.

Heijmans stated in an announcement dated 29th April 2009 that they were seeking to divest themselves of the majority of their foreign interests and re-focus on the Dutch market.  Heijmans Deputy Chairman, Bert van der Els, commented: "I am pleased that Heijmans have reached agreement with the management of Leadbitter for the purchase of the business. The management team has made a significant contribution to the success of the Heijmans Group during the period of our tenure and I am confident they are well placed to lead the Leadbitter Group to continued success. I wish the team and employees every success.

“Heijmans are now able to focus on our strategic ambition of adding value in the Dutch market. Our main goal is to become the market leader by offering customers quality, sustainability and profitability.”

The Leadbitter Group, which consists of both Leadbitter and Denne, has a turnover approaching £400 million and, in recent years, has achieved considerable success resulting in it being named as UK Contractor of the Year at the 2009 Building Awards. The Group is currently in a very strong and profitable position, with excellent visibility on both the volume and quality of its forward order book.  Whilst the Comprehensive Spending Review has laid down a significant challenge to the industry, the Leadbitter Group is confident that it will be able to find new and innovative ways of working with its clients to enable their future development aspirations to be met.

The additional capacity provided by Bouygues Construction will enable Leadbitter to strengthen its position on value added projects and on new procedures for awarding public contracts. It will also benefit from numerous synergies with other Group subsidiaries already operating in the United Kingdom: Bouygues UK, Warings, ETDE and its specialist subsidiaries (David Webster, ETDE Contracting and Icel).

Olivier-Marie Racine, Chief Executive and Chairman of Bouygues Bâtiment International, said: "This agreement in conjunction with the Leadbitter Group management team is an excellent illustration of our development strategy in the most buoyant regions of England."

Bob Rendell is very upbeat and stated: “This is a very exciting time for the Leadbitter Group and its employees. The resources and strength which will now be available to our Group will place us in a very enviable position and enable us to influence and take advantage of the new private investment models that are emerging in our core sectors, including mixed tenure regeneration and zero grant developments. I am confident that we are now extremely well placed to capture further market share in a number of our key areas”.