Mouchel’s assets sold to new firm owned by its lenders

The deal to sell the business to a newly incorporated company, MRBL Ltd, means that all of Mouchel’s subsidiaries will continue to trade as usual, administrator KPMG said.

Mouchel helps build and maintain motorways, roads and schools but struggled to recover from a 2011 dominated by contract blunders, management resignations, failed takeover bids and tough trading.

On Friday shareholders rejected a plan that would have seen its lenders swap £87m ($138m) of existing debt for a majority stake in the company.

Instead the group was put into administration and immediately sold to MRBL, whose owners include lenders RBS, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

Under the original restructuring proposals, shareholders would have been given a special dividend of 1p per share, but will now receive nothing.

Mouchel chief executive Grant Rumbles said the restructuring would ensure the business’s future and secure more than 8,000 jobs.

“With a stable and supportive ownership structure and a balance sheet that is fit for purpose, Mouchel will be in a strong position to rebuild the business and start winning large contracts again,” Mr Rumbles added.

The company’s shares had fallen from highs of around 485p in 2008 to 0.95p on Friday before trading was suspended.

Mouchel’s woes were compounded last year when Richard Cuthbert resigned as chief executive after the company revealed a £4.3m accounting error.

The group slumped to an £11.6m loss in the six months to the end of January. And it warned it would breach covenants at the end of August if it did not move to tackle its debt mountain.

Mouchel has been predominantly UK-focused but also provides services in some overseas markets “where our UK-based skills, competencies and experience can add significant value to our worldwide clients”.

Its Middle East business is designing new industrial cities in Saudi Arabia to short timeframes.

The company’s DownerMouchel joint venture in Australia is providing integrated road asset management and maintenance contracts.