Failed Siteserv bidder open to buying 'any part' of group

ONE OF the parties who bid unsuccessfully for Siteserv has written to the new owners raising the possibility of buying part of the company.

French fund Altrad said last week it would have paid €60 million for Siteserv, but an EGM voted in favour of selling the business to an Isle of Man company, Millington, owned by billionaire Denis O’Brien, for €45.5 million.

Following last week’s EGM it emerged that Siteserv was planning to ask Britain’s Office of Fair Trade to investigate the purchase by French-based Altrad of Generation Hire and Sales in Britain last week.

Generation competes directly with Deborah Services, Siteserv’s main British subsidiary. Both provide scaffolding and other services to the construction industry.

Last week Altrad executive Ray Neilson said it might make complaints to both the Competition Authority and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

However, on Friday Mr Neilson sent an email to Siteserv chairman Hugh Cooney and “Mr O’Brian” congratulating them in the wake of the EGM vote.

“We are today retracting the complaint that we lodged with the Competition Authority of Ireland,” he wrote, according to a copy of the email seen by The Irish Times.

“If Mr O’Brien and yourself decide that you are interested in exploring the opportunity of selling any part of the Siteserv companies in the future then we would be very happy to open confidential discussions on this subject and would sign a confidentiality agreement as is usual.”

He asked that Mr Cooney give Mr O’Brien a copy of the email.

Despite the move by Altrad, Siteserv is understood to be continuing with its complaint to the Office of Fair Trade in Britain.

The sale of Siteserv came after a process whereby Davy Stockbrokers and KPMG were asked by a sub-committee of the Siteserv board to find a buyer and to review offers.

The offer from Mr O’Brien will see shareholders getting €5 million and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (which comprises Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide) getting just €40 million of the €150 million it is owed by Siteserv.

Altrad was not the only party to say it had offered more for Siteserv than Millington. However, the offers were subject to conditions that Davy and KPMG believed made Millington’s offer the best.