Balfour Beatty has sold Parsons Brinckerhoff to consultant WSP in a deal worth £820M. The news puts an end to months of speculation over the future of the professional services firm.

Sale of Parsons had represented a stumbling block in negotiations between Balfour Beatty and Carillion over a merger, which has since failed to materialise.

WSP’s chief executive Pierere Shoiry said: “We are pleased to be joining forces with a firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s long standing reputation and we expect this transaction to create one of the largest global professional services firms in our industry.”

Parsons Brinckerhoff’s chief executive George Pierson added: “This exciting transaction significantly expands opportunities for our employees and services to our clients.”

Balfour Beatty’s executive chairman Steve Marshall said: “The board believes that the sale price of £820M delivers both a significant return on our original investment and a compelling level of value for shareholders.”

Construction intelligence firm Barbour ABI’s lead economist Michael Dall said that Parsons Brinckerhoff has an abundance of future construction projects in the pipeline. “WSP may well have been enticed by Parsons’ current involvement in the High Speed 2 phase one development. Given that the total value of High Speed 2 phase one was in excess of £17Bn it is likely that this was an additional factor when WSP was making its decision.”

In other market news Arcadis has further increased its cash offer for Hyder to 750p per share, valuing Hyder at £296M. Two weeks ago the Dutch firm increased its offer to 730p, trumping an earlier offer of 680p per share from the Japanese consultant Nippon Koei.

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