An Irish private equity firm has bought a British building company for an estimated €20 million in a move to capitalise on the development spend for the London Olympics.
Cork-based Mercier Private Equity acquired the McArdle Group, a London civil engineering specialist that employs 150 people and which has worked in both Britain and Ireland.
The firm did not reveal the sale price, but industry sources estimate the deal's value at €20 million.
The deal was backed with funds raised by Mercier from a number of parties, along with a loan from Allied Irish Bank (GB) corporate banking.
A number of senior McArdle Group managers will also have an equity interest in the business.
McArdle Group is mainly focused on infrastructure projects, including motorway development and construction. The company has worked on a number of major projects across Britain, including redevelopment of the M1 and M25 motorways and the A3 Hindhead Tunnel between London and Portsmouth, one of the biggest projects of its kind in England.
In Ireland it has worked on the Limerick southern ring road tunnel. It also has a joint venture in the Caribbean.
Mercier Private Equity's principals are Marcus Spillane and Martin Dooney, both of whom have backgrounds in international corporate finance and financial services.
The firm is focused on medium-sized family-owned businesses in Ireland and Britain, particularly those that have grown significantly but are facing challenges in terms of progressing to the next stage of development or in succession.
Mercier bought McArdle with the aim of exploiting opportunities in infrastructure development in Ireland and Britain, where the 2012 London Olympics will be a key driver of activity.
Mr Spillane said that infrastructure development was a "hot area" in both countries.
"The National Development Plan in Ireland is providing a massive pipeline of infrastructural work and, in the UK, the 2012 Olympic Games will further stimulate activity in the southeast," he Mr Spillane said.
He added that Mercier intended looking to buy a number of suitable, smaller operations to augment McArdle's activities.
Mr Spillane is a chartered accountant who has worked with Deloitte in Cork and in the firm's mergers and acquisitions services group in New York. He has worked with a number of owner-managed and family-controlled businesses on acquisitions, sales and restructuring.
Mr Dooney was Barclay Group's country manager in Singapore.
He is a former managing director and global head of money markets with Barclays Capital and worked in wholesale capital markets for three decades in the roles of broker, principal and risk manager.
