CIMIC buys Broadspectrum for $485m

The services company Broadspectrum will return to the ASX after a unit of engineering major CIMIC bought it for $485m.

Ventia, a joint venture part owned by CIMIC, said it would acquire the company.

The services company Broadspectrum will return to being an ASX-listed entity after a unit of engineering major CIMIC acquired the business for $485m.

The deal comes a little more than three years after Broadspectrum was acquired by Spain’s Ferrovial for $813m during a drawn-out takeover.

The Australian’s DataRoom column revealed in March that Ferrovial had hired an adviser to explore the possibility of selling its global services division, which includes Broadspectrum.

Broadspectrum provides operations and maintenance, asset management, project and capital management and outsourcing services in the resource and industrial, infrastructure services and property sectors.

Previously chaired by Diane Smith-Gander, Broadspectrum had overseen detention centre services contracts on Nauru and Manus Island. Both contracts expired in 2017.

Ventia, a joint venture part owned by CIMIC, said it would acquire the company, subject to regulatory approval. Ventia, which is owned by funds backed by private equity group Apollo, was formed by the merger of several industrial services companies including Leighton Con­tractors, Thiess Services and Telstra unit Visionstream.

“Ventia and Broadspectrum are complementary infrastructure services businesses offering a variety of operational and maintenance services to a wide range of private sector and government clients and their customers,” said Ventia’s executive chairman David Moffatt.

The acquisition is expected to close in 2020. The combined group is expected to generate revenue in excess of $5bn.