When former Jarvis finance director John O鈥橩ane left the rail specialist last month to join engineering service firm Redhall, it reunited him with the firm鈥檚 chairman David Jackson. They had both previously worked together at rail engineer Peterhouse in the same roles.

Back in the summer of 2004 Peterhouse received a 拢95m takeover bid from Babcock which divided the board. Jackson was on one side opposing the deal and pretty much all the rest were in the camp that wanted to accept the offer, including O鈥橩ane, current VolkerWessels UK boss Alan Robertson and Janette Anderson, who later joined, er, Babcock.

It apparently all got quite nasty and personal relationships were damaged.

So have O鈥橩ane and Jackson kissed and made up?

Or, more tellingly, are things so bleak at Jarvis that a reunion with a former boardroom foe was a more attractive proposition than staying?

Or did they ever truly fall out?

Some are now saying O鈥橩ane was actually more on the fence than firmly in the Robertson/Anderson camp. Or perhaps that鈥檚 just the warm glow of hindsight?

Either way it was a strange time for O鈥橩ane to leave; Jarvis is dealing with a takeover bid from a mystery suitor.

Names being bandied around include鈥� wait for it鈥� Babcock and VolkerWessels.