Stake sale

CANADA: Hochtief has agreed to sell its 43.3% stake in Canadian construction group Aecon for CA$ 104 million (US$ 92 million). The shares will initially be bought by a syndicate of underwriters led by two Canadian equity trading companies, GMP Securities and Paradigm Capital. The Germany-based construction group acquired its minority interest in Aecon in 1999 but a move to fully acquire the company in 2004 was rebuffed by other shareholders. Hochtief’s continued partial ownership of Aecon has been in question since then.