AS PART of an ongoing portfolio review, Alstom Transport announced on September 27 that it had sold its 51% stake in British infrastructure maintenance company GTRM to its partner civil engineering group Carillion plc for a total of €82m (ú51m). This includes £34m in cash, dividends paid prior to completion, and repayment of £9·5m in loan stock.
Alstom Transport President Michel Moreau said ’our European service strategy is centred around developing an integrated offering to operators and lessors. In the UK, the operators do not own the infrastructure and therefore GTRM does not fit this strategy’.
Carillion Chief Executive John McDonough expects GTRM to make ’a significant contribution to our future growth’, as expanding rail maintenance was ’an important part’ of the group’s strategy. GTRM Managing Director Paul Kirk says further benefits will flow from combining ’GTRM and Carillion’s rail, civil and project management skills, from design through to implementation’.
