Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial (FFH.TO) is snapping up most of the assets of Carillion Canada, less than a month after the firm entered creditor protection.
Fairfax will buy Carillion Canada’s services operations, including its airport management unit, the commercial and retail properties division and certain healthcare management holdings. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are excited to have the services business of Carillion Canada join the Fairfax group,” Watsa, the chairman and CEO of Fairfax, said in a release on Monday. “The services business of Carillion Canada has an excellent long-term track record and we look forward to working with this team in growing their business over the long-term.”
Carillion Canada’s future was thrown into doubt late last month when the parent company’s collapse caused a liquidity crunch at its Canadian subsidiary. The bankruptcy filing threw employment prospects for Carillion Canada’s 7,500 workers into doubt. Fairfax says it will retain more than 4,500 Carillion employees as part of the deal.
The Canadian division accounted for about 11 per cent of Carillion’s overall revenue stream – about $1 billion annually. In conjunction with the deal, Fairfax is beefing up the acquired unit’s management team and appointing former Governor General David Johnston to its board.
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