Centrica buys Connaught’s gas and electricity services businesses for £11.2 mln

British Gas parent company Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) said the British Gas Business
division has acquired the assets of the gas and electricity services businesses of Connaught Compliance, the trading division of distressed social-housing contractor Connaught Group PLC (LON:CNT), for £11.2 million in cash.

The acquisition will bring British Gas Business an approximately 600 strong work force including approximately 400 gas and electricity engineers who specialise in the installation, service and maintenance of commercial gas boilers and electrical systems, and in excess of 20,000 customer contracts, mainly in the private sector.

The acquisition also includes Connaught’s training academy in South Wales.

British Gas Business has now made five acquisitions in the energy services and management sector in the last two years. The latest follows the previous acquisitions of BMSi, Semplice Energy, Energy and Building Management Solutions and Newnova Group.

The 600 Connaught employees joining British Gas Business will be additional to the 5,100 new jobs in insulation, smart metering and energy efficiency which British Gas has already announced over the past two years.

Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS) bought contracts and assets from Connaught earlier this month in a deal worth £28m. The contracts and assets will be integrated into the company’s affordable housing division Lovell Partnerships, and 2,500 employees will transfer to Lovell as part of the agreement.

A week prior to the Morgan Sindall deal, Connaught’s shares were suspended and the company called in the administrators. It has been a rather swift fall from grace for the social housing specialist, after its business was severely crippled by budget cuts under the new government.