Mouchel on road to raising £20m

THE MEN responsible for maintaining the M25 are to test the initial public offerings market with a planned float on the London stock market that they hope will value their company, Mouchel, at about £90m.

Mouchel, an infrastructure management group set up more than 100 years ago by a Frenchman but now run by Englishman Jim Harding, has contracts worth more than £250m with clients such as the Highways Agency, London Underground and Railtrack.

It is advising Railtrack on the upkeep of 4,000 bridges as part of a 10-year contract and needs fresh funds to bid for more PFI and infrastructure projects. The M25 contract is worth £10m a year for the next five years and further work for the Highways Agency will bring in £24m a year. Pre-tax profits last year were £4.25m on £71m turnover.

Mouchel hopes to raise £20m by placing new and existing shares with institutional investors before the end of the summer. Chief executive Harding, who has been with Mouchel for 21 years, will sell about a quarter of his 4% stake in the company, netting him just under £1m.

Employees own 33% of the company and will also have the chance to sell some of their shares. Mouchel has appointed Cazenove as brokers to the float.