Balfour Beatty Raises £61.5m From Sale of Hospital Partnership

Balfour Beatty has said it will sell off its 50% stake in a public-private partnership in a West Yorkshire hospital adding £61.5m to its bruised balance sheet.

The company's board said the amount it had received for its partnership in Pinderfields and Pontefract Hospital PPP project had "exceeded" its expectations and had generated a gain on disposal of £42.2m.

Pinderfields is being purchased by Balfour Beatty's co-shareholder in the project, HICL Infrastructure Company Limited.

Ian Rylatt, chief executive of Balfour Beatty Investments said in a statement: "This disposal supports the substantial increase in the Directors' Valuation of the PPP portfolio, whilst also demonstrating that the valuation maintains a level of prudence.

"We continue to see a strong pipeline of opportunities and therefore, in line with our strategy of recycling equity, the proceeds will be invested in new projects as we continue to diversify our business."

Balfour has recently spurned three merger proposals from its UK rival Carillion, the latest in August. The UK infrastructure giant issued a profit warning earlier this week which precipitated a 20% fall in its share price.

It said profits from the Construction Services UK division will take another £75m hit this year and said it has appointed auditors KPMG to undertake a detailed independent review of the contract portfolio within the business.

Balfour said it has reached financial close on Carmendy Square, a multi-family housing community in Florida, and has also been appointed preferred bidder on two new student accommodation projects, one for The University of Texas at Dallas and one for University of Wollongong in Australia. Balfour Beatty expects to invest about £20m of equity in these projects over the next three years.