Vinci aims to fold its UK development business into regeneration specialist Ion Property Group, after Vinci Construction announced it has acquired the Liverpool-based firm for an undisclosed sum.
Vinci UK Developments will be merged with the newly purchased company, the contractor said.
It added the new entity will be called Ion Developments, and the acquired firm’s offices at the Port of Liverpool Building will be its headquarters.
The new firm will focus on the local authority urban regeneration market and build on projects Vinci and Ion have already worked on together in Derby (pictured), Chester, Coventry and Northwich.
Ion Developments will also deliver Ion Property’s ongoing schemes in areas such as Birkenhead, Stafford and Wakefield.
Ion Property’s directors Steve Parry and Rob Mason will become managing and commercial directors respectively at the new firm, while Vinci UK Developments’ Ian Hudson will be finance director.
Ion Property Group’s non-executive directors Peter Hynd and Gavin Douglas will leave the company.
The firm reported turnover of £1.6m for the year to June 2025, double its income for the previous year.
However, its pre-tax profit fell 41 per cent to £62,272. Ion employed an average of 11 people across both years.
Vinci UK Developments has offices in Watford and Bristol. Its website says it works in both the public and private sectors as well as investing in private finance initiatives.
Parry said: “At a time when local authorities and other public bodies across the UK are exploring new solutions for urban regeneration and the use of their land assets, this is the ideal moment to bring together these two specialist businesses to create a single regeneration developer.
“We already have a strong forward pipeline and the new structure will only enhance our capacity to deliver these and other future projects.”
Hynd said many of Ion Property’s “transformational” regeneration schemes had been “regarded as too difficult, but we have delivered consistently, working closely with our public sector partners”.
He added that the acquisition by Vinci “stands as testament to our legacy of success”.
Vinci Construction UK chief executive Scott Wardrop said the formation of Ion Developments “will see the creation of a consolidated development business, that can harness even more of our collective strengths and support greater numbers of local authorities and other clients to make a long-lasting, positive change to their communities across future generations”.
The acquisition of Ion Property follows the purchase last month of telecoms construction specialist Novo Technologies by Vinci Energies, as it seeks to boost its wireless infrastructure offering.
Vinci Construction also completed its acquisition of £580m-turnover civils contractor FM Conway in January 2025. Law firm Browne Jacobson described it as one of the largest pieces of M&A seen in the industry in recent years.
In its latest annual accounts, covering the 2024 calendar year, Vinci said the FM Conway deal will give it “greater exposure to the highly buoyant South-East England market”.