FTSE-100 housebuilder Persimmon weighs £1bn bid for rival Cala
One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is exploring a £1bn takeover bid for Cala Group, a rival player in the sector which has been put up for sale.
Sky News has learned that Persimmon, which has a market value of £4.74bn, is leaning towards submitting an offer for Cala ahead of a bid deadline next week.
City sources said it would be a strong contender to buy Cala, whose homes have a significantly higher average sale price than those of Persimmon.
Insiders expect Cala, which is being auctioned by Legal & General (L&G), to command a price tag of about £1bn.
If Persimmon is successful in the auction, it would mark the York-based company’s biggest acquisition for years.
Under Roger Devlin, its chairman, and chief executive Dean Finch, the company’s share price has rallied by over 20% in the last year.
In a trading update last month, Persimmon said it was on track to deliver growth in new home completions this year to up to 10,500.
The Cala auction comes amid a general election campaign in which new home provision is expected to figure prominently.
Both main parties are likely to set out new policies to stimulate housebuilding growth, according to sources.
Analysts said this weekend that other housebuilders were also expected to consider bids for the L&G-owned company.
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These could include, they said, Persimmon’s larger rival, Taylor Wimpey, and Avant Homes, which is owned by Elliott Advisors and Berkeley DeVeer.
Persimmon is the UK’s third-largest housebuilder by market capitalisation, behind Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments.
Both Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey were among eight housebuilders named by the Competition and Markets Authority in February over suspicions they had exchanged commercially sensitive information.
A takeover of Cala by another major housebuilder would underline fresh momentum in the industry’s consolidation, after Barratt Developments unveiled a £2.5bn deal to acquire rival Redrow.
The prospective sale of Cala represents the first significant strategic move by its new chief executive, Antonio Simoes.
Bankers at Rothschild are overseeing the auction.
Mr Simoes described Cala as “a very strong business” during an earnings call earlier this year on which he was quizzed about the housebuilder’s future ownership.
L&G took full control of the business in 2018.
Cala reported a slide in half-year profits last autumn, citing a “challenging market”.
The company has a long-term goal to build 3,000 homes annually.
Persimmon and L&G declined to comment on Saturday.
Business
Energy bills to rise again from January but spring falls to come, research firm Cornwall Insight forecasts
Energy bills are to rise again next year, according to a respected forecaster.
Costs from January to March are projected to rise another 1% to £1,736 a year for the average user, according to research firm Cornwall Insight.
The energy price cap, which sets a limit on how much companies can charge per unit of electricity, is also expected to rise, costing typical households an extra £19 a year.
It’s a further increase after energy costs rose 10% from October.
After the latest hike, there were hopes of a fall in the new year, but volatile wholesale gas and electricity markets are still above historic average costs.
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Prices have gone up due to supply concerns arising from Russia‘s war in Ukraine, and maintenance of Norwegian gas infrastructure.
But spring is expected to herald a reduction as is October 2025, Cornwall Insight said.
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‘Energy prices make me depressed’, pensioner Roy Roots said in August
Every three months energy regulator Ofgem revises the cap based on wholesale costs.
The official January price cap announcement will be made on Friday.
It comes as millions of pensioners lost their automatic winter fuel allowance payment after the government means-tested the benefit.
Meanwhile, Cornwall Insight’s principal consultant Dr Craig Lowrey warned “millions” of households won’t heat their homes to “recommended temperatures, risking serious health consequences” with bills on the rise.
“With it being widely accepted that high prices are here to stay, we need to see action,” he said, suggesting options like cheaper rates for low-income homes, benefit restructuring, or other targeted support for the vulnerable “must be seriously considered”.
The energy price cap system is being reviewed by Ofgem with possible changes to the standing charge coming over the next year.
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The long-lasting solution to high energy bills is the transition to UK-produced renewable power, the firm said.
“While there will be upfront costs, this shift is essential to building a sustainable and secure energy system for the future.”
The owners of Scotland’s only oil refinery have rejected a US-led approach about a possible bid for it months before its scheduled closure.
Sky News has learnt that a consortium said to be led by Robert McKee, an American energy industry veteran, wrote to Petroineos, the owner of the Grangemouth site, to express an interest in buying it.
The approach, which is understood to have been made earlier this month, was rejected by Petroineos, which is 50%-owned by the petrochemicals empire founded by the Manchester United FC shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The consortium is understood to comprise The Canal Group, which is reportedly developing a green energy refinery in Texas, and Trading Stack, a Middle East-based commodities trader.
Mr McKee spent nearly four decades with ConocoPhillips, one of the biggest energy companies in the US.
Sources close to the situation said that Petroineos had rebuffed the offer in order to concentrate on a publicly announced plan to transform the century-old plant into a finished fuels import terminal.
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They added that the nature of the consortium’s approach had raised questions about its access to financing and expertise in operating an asset of this kind.
The Grangemouth refinery, which employs about 450 people, loses about £200m annually.
Its other shareholder is the state-backed Chinese energy giant PetroChina.
The site is due to close next year.
A person close to the consortium insisted that its financing was robust and said it would assess the feasibility of building a new refinery elsewhere in the area.
They added that the consortium had had “positive interactions” with trade union officials, and believed that there was scope to rapidly make Grangemouth’s refinery operations profitable.
On Monday, a spokesman for Petroineos said: “Since the Petroineos joint venture was formed 13 years ago, our shareholders have invested nearly £1bn in the refinery, only to absorb losses of £600m.
“Last week, the refinery lost £385,000 on average each day and we expect to lose more than £150m in total during the course of this year.
“We have not received any credible or viable bids for the refinery.”
A spokesman for the consortium declined to comment.
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