Skip to main content

Atkins sells stake in London’s M25 ring road

Infrastructure engineering firm WS Atkins sold its stake in London’s M25 orbital road to a consortium of institutional investors for nearly €79 million (£66.3 million). Atkins, a publicly listed UK company, sold to Edge Orbital Holdings 2 Limited and the deal for its minority stake is expected to be complete by March 2017, the end of the financial year, according to a statement by Atkins. In October, the Edge Orbital consortium picked up Skanska’s 40% stake in Connect Plus, which manages the M25. Skanska so
December 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Infrastructure engineering firm WS 3005 Atkins sold its stake in London’s M25 orbital road to a consortium of institutional investors for nearly €79 million (£66.3 million).

Atkins, a publicly listed UK company, sold to Edge Orbital Holdings 2 Limited and the deal for its minority stake is expected to be complete by March 2017, the end of the financial year, according to a statement by Atkins.

In October, the Edge Orbital consortium picked up 2296 Skanska’s 40% stake in Connect Plus, which manages the M25. Skanska sold for around €315 million (£265 million). 1146 Balfour Beatty and 2643 Egis remain shareholders in Connect Plus.

The 188km M25 was completed in 1986 and is Europe’s second longest urban orbital road, only 10km shorter than the Berliner Ring in Germany. Most of the road was built as a dual three-lane motorway but many sections have been widened. Around half is now dual four-lane with some dual five and dual six.

Daily traffic volumes have reached at times nearly 200,000 vehicles.

In May 2009, the UK’s government 2309 Highways Agency – now 8100 Highways England - awarded Connect Plus a 30-year design-build-finance-operate contract to manage the M25 and key arterial link roads. The contract included the now-completed widening of the M25 to four lanes between Junctions 16 and 23 and between Junctions 27 and 30, as well as refurbishment of the Hatfield Tunnel on the A1(M) motorway running north from London.

Connect Plus is also delivering other major improvements, including widening around 45km of the M25, refurbishing tunnels and bridges and installing hundreds of variable messaging signs (VMS) and gantries.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Upgrading a busy A road link in the UK
    July 4, 2018
    The upgrade to the UK’s busy A14 route will address a significant traffic bottleneck - Mike Woof writes The UK is suffering badly from traffic congestion, a problem that is particularly severe in and around its major cities. Lack of investment in road construction over many years has resulted in a major backlog of work, while the country has seen growing vehicle numbers. To make matters worse, there have been few additions to the major road network since the late 1980s and early 1990s. And the combinatio
  • Skanska scores Polish project
    March 2, 2012
    Skanska is now starting work on a new highway to the northeast of the Polish city of Wroclaw. The project is worth €106 million and is for a 25km section of the S-8 highway running from Olesnica to Sycow
  • RiverLinx consortium inks London’s Silvertown Tunnel deal
    November 27, 2019
    The RiverLinx consortium has reached financial close on the €1.17 billion Silvertown Tunnel project after a three-year procurement process by the client Transport for London.
  • Causeway and immersed road for LagoonHull
    December 1, 2021
    The agency proposing the UK’s LagoonHull project says it’s development and construction costs could be between €1.2-2.4 billion.