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Corus Sells Stake in GrantRail Group to JV Partner VolkerWessels
12/01/2008 - ABSTRACT: Corus is selling its 50% stake holding in the GrantRail Group to its joint venture partner, VolkerWessels, giving it full ownership.
VolkerWessels is taking full ownership of GrantRail Group with the purchase of the 50% stake holding owned by joint venture partner, Corus.
GrantRail Group Limited, based in Doncaster, has grown substantially, year on year since its formation in 1996 as a 50/50 joint venture between Corus and the international rail and construction group VolkerWessels. The group will continue to trade under the GrantRail name following VolkerWessels’ acquisition of Corus’ 50% stake, which was completed on November 26, 2008.
“This commitment by VolkerWessels to the GrantRail Group going forward provides an enhanced focus offering greater breadth and depth to our activities in the U.K. and Ireland,” commented GrantRail Group CEO Gren Edwards. “This enables us to build on the successes of the last 12 years under the joint ownership of Corus and VolkerWessels.
“The GrantRail Group will leverage the extensive European rail infrastructure capabilities of VolkerWessels and continue to grow and expand, not only as a leading contractor in the railways but also as a key part of the VolkerWessels activities in the UK in years to come,” added Edwards.
Joe Guerin, Managing Director of Corus Rail, noted that “GrantRail is a successful business providing rail infrastructure services, but the joint venture was not part of our core steel production activities. The additional expertise available from VolkerWessels will help GrantRail to continue to develop and grow in the future.”
VolkerWessels Executive Director Jan Kees de Pagter said that GrantRail would increasingly strengthen its links with the company’s other U.K. business to offer a broader portfolio of turnkey services to our customers.
GrantRail provides a wide range of railway construction and engineering services for major projects, including track renewals. It provides a number of specialized operations including signaling, overhead line work, high and low voltage power distribution, specialized welding services, and coated rail solutions for the metro/light rail sector. GrantRail also runs one of the largest fleets of modern specialized on-track rail plant in Europe.
VolkerWessels is a Dutch-based decentralized construction group of 100 operating companies (2007 operating revenues: Euro 4.828 billion, 17.000 co-workers) working in construction and related fields: Building and Property Development the Netherlands; Civil Engineering, Roads and Rail Europe; Infrastructure Technology and Telecommunications; Infrastructure and Land Development USA/Canada and Supplies & Services.
Corus, Europe's second-largest steel producer, has annual revenues of more than £12 billion and crude steel production of about 20 million tonnes. With main steelmaking operations primarily in the U.K. and the Netherlands, Corus provides innovative solutions to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide.
Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest steel producer. Following the acquisition of Corus last year, the combined enterprise has an aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 82,700 employees across four continents.
