Sir Fraser Morrison, the owner and chairman of architect RMJM, is the backer behind the investment firm that bought RMJM for £11m in late March.
Declan Thompson, RMJM’s group commercial director, said the deal, which involved Duthus Investments buying RMJM Architecture Limited for £11m, would wipe £12m of debt off the RMJM books and allow the firm to reinvest.
According to Companies House, Duthus Investments was incorporated on the 5 March.
Sir Fraser Morrison is a construction tycoon and one of Scotland’s wealthiest individuals and Thompson said the investment firm was part of his “family of investment companies”.
Morrison bought a 56% share in RMJM in 2002 and installed his son Peter Morrison as chief executive in 2006. At the time of the sale to Duthus Investments earlier this week Morrison owned 75% of the voting rights.
Thompson said the sale was a “simple thing to allow Sir Fraser Morrison to write off £12m” and was part of the board’s “strategy to get rid of debt off the books”.
He added that the deal left the firm with debts totalling around £11m and that the firm was “quite optimistic” about the future.
Thompson said the firm’s cash flow problems, which have seen staff receive salaries late and pension payments delayed, were now behind it following the sale.
“RMJM has spent much of 2011-12 doing difficult things and making difficult choices to get the business stable,” he said.
He said the loss of a number of senior staff over the last year had been wrongly reported by the media. “In quite a lot of instances those people have been asked to leave the business because they weren’t performing,” he said.
He added there were no more plans for further cuts to staff numbers and the firm would be hiring new staff where necessary. “We have got to the point where we have enough, or just enough, very busy architects,” he said.
Thompson said he had no plans to add to the senior team, which includes recently-appointed principal Jonathan French, who joined from David Chipperfield Architects earlier this year.
Thompson said he expected to see recovery in the Chinese and Middle East markets to return some growth to the firm. “The UK market is going to stay quite difficult,” he added.
http://www.building.co.uk/buildings/architecture/morrison-emerges-as-backer-behind-rmjm-buyer/5052760.article
Related Stories
Green | Feb 15, 2024
FEMA issues guidance on funding for net zero buildings
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently unveiled new guidance on additional assistance funding for net zero buildings. The funding is available for implementing net-zero energy projects with a tie to disaster recovery or mitigation.
Codes | Feb 9, 2024
Illinois releases stretch energy code for building construction
Illinois is the latest jurisdiction to release a stretch energy code that provides standards for communities to mandate more efficient building construction. St. Louis, Mo., and a few states, including California, Colorado, and Massachusetts, currently have stretch codes in place.
Modular Building | Jan 19, 2024
Virginia is first state to adopt ICC/MBI offsite construction standards
Virginia recently became the first state to adopt International Code Council/Modular Building Institute off-site construction standards.
Modular Building | Jan 19, 2024
Building with shipping containers not as eco-friendly as it seems
With millions of shipping containers lying empty at ports around the world, it may seem like repurposing them to construct buildings would be a clear environmental winner. The reality of building with shipping containers is complicated, though, and in many cases isn’t a net-positive for the environment, critics charge, according to a report by NPR's Chloe Veltman.
Sponsored | BD+C University Course | Jan 17, 2024
Waterproofing deep foundations for new construction
This continuing education course, by Walter P Moore's Amos Chan, P.E., BECxP, CxA+BE, covers design considerations for below-grade waterproofing for new construction, the types of below-grade systems available, and specific concerns associated with waterproofing deep foundations.
Adaptive Reuse | Jan 12, 2024
Office-to-residential conversions put pressure on curbside management and parking
With many office and commercial buildings being converted to residential use, two important issues—curbside management and parking—are sometimes not given their due attention. Cities need to assess how vehicle storage, bike and bus lanes, and drop-off zones in front of buildings may need to change because of office-to-residential conversions.
MFPRO+ News | Jan 12, 2024
Detroit may tax land more than buildings to spur development of vacant sites
The City of Detroit is considering a revamp of how it taxes property to encourage development of more vacant lots. The land-value tax has rarely been tried in the U.S., but versions of it have been adopted in many other countries.
MFPRO+ News | Jan 12, 2024
As demand rises for EV chargers at multifamily housing properties, options and incentives multiply
As electric vehicle sales continue to increase, more renters are looking for apartments that offer charging options.
Student Housing | Jan 12, 2024
UC Berkeley uses shipping containers to block protestors of student housing project
The University of California at Berkeley took the drastic step of erecting a wall of shipping containers to keep protestors out of a site of a planned student housing complex. The $312 million project would provide badly needed housing at the site of People’s Park.
MFPRO+ News | Jan 8, 2024
Canada turns to 1940s strategy to speed up housing construction
To address a severe housing shortage, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration has begun a housing construction strategy pioneered in the years after World War 2. The government aims to use a catalog of pre-approved home designs to reduce the cost and time to construct homes.
