Buckthorn Partners and One Equity Partners have agreed to purchase Amey, the UK infrastructure business of Spanish transport company Ferrovial, in a deal reportedly worth £400 million.
Ferrovial, which bought Amey in 2003 for £81 million, had put the company up for sale in 2018 but struggled to find a buyer. This past April, Amey’s utilities unit was sold to Rubicon Partners, leaving the remainder of the business to focus on transport infrastructure and consulting services.
Infrastructure assets are in demand among PE investors as rising inflation and the threat of recession cause investors to seek out sectors with a stable source of income. Amey has contracts with National Highways, a government-owned company that runs and maintains England’s roadways.
Other recent UK infrastructure deals include Macquarie Asset Management and Columbia Investment Management’s purchase of 60% of UK-based National Grid’s gas transmission and metering unit in a deal valuing the company at £9.6 billion earlier this year.
Ferrovial originally bought Amey to get a foothold in the burgeoning public-private partnership sector in the UK. It is not including its UK waste management business in the sale of Amey.
Featured image by Matt Rakowski/Shutterstock
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