Balfour Beatty bids $93m for UK Alkane

A subsidiary of Balfour Beatty, Barbican Bidco, has made a £61.37mn ($93m) bid for AIM-listed UK gas and power producer Alkane

The offer represents a premium of 44% to the closing price on 15 September and Alkane said it has accepted it as fair and reasonable. Last year it reported a pre-tax profit of £3.2m on revenues of £16.0m. The offer is conditional on the UK energy ministry confirming in writing that it does not intend to revoke any of Alkane’s exploration and development licenses. Alkane swapped its shale exploration licenses for 18% of Egdon Resources last year, leaving Egdon responsible for all the operational costs while Alkane receives the benefit of any upside from Egdon’s shale production. Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners (BBIP) managing partner Rob Gregor says the attraction lay in Alkane’s indep