£1.5bn deal to run the biggest jail in Australia

SERCO has secured its biggest ever contract – a £1.5bn deal to run Australia’s largest jail.

The FTSE 250 outsourcing group will manage the prison in Grafton, New South Wales, which has been nicknamed ‘ jailtown’, for 20 years.

Serco will take over the 1,700- bed facility, big enough to cover 250 football pitches, when it is finished in 2020.

The firm is experienced in running prisons in the UK, New Zealand and Australia but said this would be the first time it has managed a facility which includes women.

News of the contract yesterday sent shares in the group up 0.4pc, or 0.5p, to 118.5p.

Serco has been recovering in recent years after admitting in 2013 to charging the Government for tagging criminals who were dead or non-existent.

Joe Brent, analyst at Liberum, said the deal had been one of the ‘elephants’ Serco had targeted.