VINCI Construction Expands with Acquisition of ION Property Group
The UK division of VINCI Construction has announced its acquisition of ION Property Group, aiming to merge it with VINCI UK Developments to establish a unified development entity focused on urban regeneration for local authorities. This new venture will operate under the name ION Developments and will be based at the Port of Liverpool Building.
Both VINCI UK Developments and ION have been collaborating on various projects, including significant urban regeneration initiatives in Derby city centre, Chester Northgate 2, the Coventry Civic Centre site, and Northwich Weaver Square. The acquisition solidifies their existing partnership.
The newly formed entity will also oversee ION’s current development projects, which include Borough Yard in Birkenhead, Stafford town centre, and Westgate in Wakefield. The merged business is poised for substantial growth and will be led by a senior management team featuring Steve Parry as Managing Director, Rob Mason as Commercial Director, and Ian Hudson as Finance Director, with both Parry and Mason being former directors at ION.
This acquisition represents a pivotal moment for ION, which has been privately owned for 36 years, resulting in the exit of outgoing shareholders and non-executive directors Peter Hynd and Gavin Douglas. Steve Parry remarked, “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 which has the vision, experience and resources to bring projects of all sizes to life. We already have a strong forward pipeline and the new structure will only enhance our capacity to deliver these and other future projects.”
Peter Hynd added, “ION has delivered many transformational regeneration schemes that have had a positive impact on our towns, cities and communities by delivering high quality urban buildings that have created a sense of place. Many of these projects were regarded as ‘too difficult’, but we have delivered consistently, working closely with our public sector partners. This deal with VINCI stands as testament to our legacy of success and we are proud to be leaving the business in such a strong position, with an incredibly bright future ahead and we wish the hard-working ION team every success in the future.”
Scott Wardrop, chief executive of VINCI Construction in the UK, expressed his enthusiasm for the agreement, stating, “We are delighted to confirm this agreement, which 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.”
