Construction firm Carillion in last-ditch bid for UK taxpayer bail-out

Carillion was holding talks with the British government to ask for the £300m it needed by the end of January to stay afloat, the Mail on Sunday reported.

The troubled construction company had already received more than £1bn of taxpayers’ money a year, the Mail said.

Carillion has long-term debt topping £900m as of June 2017 and a pension deficit of £587m.

Three public-private partnership contracts are at the root of its problems, according to a separate report by the Sunday Telegraph. A spokeswoman for Carillion declined to comment.

“It’s a very commercially sensitive situation,” Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis said on the BBC on Sunday, when asked about a possible taxpayer bail-out.

“I would hope to see that the working capital that they need will be there working with their partners. Ministers and my colleague the secretary of state for business are keeping a very close eye on it,” said Lewis.

The government was not expected to bow to Carillion’s demands, making it increasingly likely the company would go into administration, the Financial Times said. Officials were conscious that “the clock is ticking” before the market opened on Monday, the Financial Times. said, citing unidentified government sources.

The company’s lenders met British government officials on Friday night, according to earlier reports by broadcaster Sky, which also cited unnamed government sources.

The government decided against providing a direct financial bail-out, Sky said.

Carillion’s share price fell more than 40% on Thursday and Friday, after rising earlier in the week on optimism about the business plan the company was set to present to lenders.

The stock has tumbled 94% since the end of 2016.