A confluence of factors, spanning infrastructure investment and sustainability to low company valuations and persistent distress, are creating the conditions for significant dealmaking within the UK’s civil engineering industry.
Activity in the sector is strong and seems to be growing, driven by both smaller and mid-sized deals and multi-billion-pound acquisitions and by buyers ranging from strategic consolidators to overseas investors and private equity firms.
Earlier this year, construction giant VINCI Construction completed the acquisition of infrastructure services firm FM Conway, in a deal that brings in significant expertise in the high-growth transport infrastructure area of civil engineering.
FM Conway delivers essential maintenance and construction across transportation and the build environment and has established itself as a pioneer in sustainable transport infrastructure construction, in particular through its use of recycled asphalt.
VINCI Construction CEO Scott Wardrop said that the acquisition complemented VINCI’s business and that FM Conway would strengthen its capabilities as it seeks to build a “successful and sustainable infrastructure services business” with knowledge of its whole supply chain.[i]
Finally, another key consideration for strategic buyers will be service diversification. Civil engineering firms can use acquisitions to tap into high growth areas of the market such as housebuilding, flood defence infrastructure or telecoms.
Perhaps the most obvious arena for diversification through M&A is in environmental civil engineering, with sustainability now a crucial concern in virtually all areas of civil engineering and the push towards net zero likely to generate extremely strong, lasting demand for environmental services in the sector.
Adler & Allan is a Harrogate-based environmental services firm backed by Goldman & Sachs. The company, which has completed ten acquisitions in the past three years, seeks to join up environmental services in order to enable customers to access solutions to environmental challenges more straightforwardly.
In May 2025, the company completed its latest acquisition with a deal for South West-headquartered drainage and civil engineering company Glanville Environmental.
Headquartered in Devon and operating from five depots across the South West, Glanville Environmental delivers drainage civil engineering, installation and remediation services.
The company specialises in geospatial surveys, high-pressure water jetting, gully cleansing, CCTV surveying, liquid waste movement and septic tank emptying, with clients across industries such as construction, water and rail.
In addition to bolstering Adler & Allan’s geographic footprint, the deal significantly enhances its ability to tackle environmental challenges such as water pollution, while reinforcing its position as a market leading national provider of end-to-end environmental services.
Chief Executive Henrik Pederson called the deal “another tangible step towards realising our plan to scale our operations and further strengthen our market leading package of integrated environmental solutions."
In May 2024, EMK Capital acquired a majority stake in Keltbray Infrastructure Services, in a deal that carved the business out of construction group Keltbray Group.
Rebranded as Aureos following the transaction, Keltbray Infrastructure Services was established as the integrated infrastructure engineering services division of construction-focused Keltbray in 2009.
The business is focused on maintaining, upgrading and expanding power, renewable energy and rail networks across the UK and the deal was described as further strengthening the firm’s leading market position in its core segments.
Post-acquisition, EMK Capital has said it will seek to drive Aureos’ buy-and-build strategy within the UK and internationally and expand the business into new service capabilities.
Highway Care is a road safety services firm based in Dartford. The company provides a wide range of services and products for the UK highways industry that are designed to enhance operative safety across UK roads.
The firm’s products and services include permanent and temporary road barriers, mobile traffic products, automation systems, security services and hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) systems - protection systems designed to protect against malicious or accidental vehicle incursions.
In 2025, the company was sold to Swedish infrastructure safety services provider Ramudden Global in a deal that further expanded the buyer’s significant international reach and bolstered its standing as a leader in traffic management.
For Highway Care, the deal was described as a “milestone transaction” that strengthens its market position and ensures continued investment in its product development.
Linbrooke Services was a Sheffield-based engineering business comprised of three divisions: a railway construction operation, a power business and an optical division.
Founded in 2002 and employing around 200 staff, the company serves as Principal Contractor for National Rail and reported turnover of £70.6 million in the year ending March 31 2023.
However, despite this, the company had become loss-making amid the increasing budget constraints of public sector clients in the railway and power sectors, which had impacted infrastructure investments and led to project delays.
As a result, the company fell into administration in October 2024, with Richard Easterby and Chris Newell of Quantuma appointed as joint administrators.
Following their appointment, the joint administrators secured a pre-pack sale of the railway construction division to Keltbray Infrastructure Services in a deal that saved 140 jobs. Keltbray said that the acquisition would “expand our digital capability to a new level, building on our existing specialisms in rail electrification and general rail-orientated civil engineering, with signalling, telemetry and telecom design and installation capabilities."
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