Move follows contractor鈥檚 investment in Canadian base in Vancouver to chase 拢1.2bn of PFI work

Europe鈥檚 largest contractor, Vinci, has stepped up its global expansion, opening an office in Turkey just five months after setting up a base in Canada, where the group is chasing
over 拢1.2bn worth of PFI hospital work.

The 鈧34bn-turnover (拢30bn) firm opened an office in Istanbul in Turkey, following an investment in $100m (拢63.6m) groundworks engineering firm Zetas. The companies now has a total of 200 staff in Turkey. The group previously opened an office in Vancouver in April that now employs four people.

Vinci is already bidding on a PFI hospital project in British Columbia understood to be worth about 拢93m and is eyeing a future pipeline of up to 10 additional PFI health opportunities across the province.

John Stanion, chairman and chief executive of Vinci鈥檚 UK contracting arm, said: 鈥淲e are looking at markets around the world that are seeing exponential growth. Turkey is one of them, where we have just invested in a groundworks company, and we have a base in Vancouver now to allow us to bid for a number of upcoming PFI hospitals. We have also opened offices in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.鈥

David Finch, managing director of Vinci Investments covering PFI in Canada, said: 鈥淚n British Columbia there are pipeline plans to start a new hospital project every six to nine months over the next three years. Each one will be worth 拢310-370m, in some cases more. That鈥檚 a 拢1.2bn pipeline of possible hospital work and we are looking to get involved with as many of those projects as possible.鈥

锘縏he PFI market in Canada, known as P3, has been developed to kickstart infrastructure development across the country. The Canadian government is developing P3 opportunities through two initiatives, a 拢740m P3 Canada Fund that will support innovative projects and a 拢16m commitment over five years to establish a federal P3 office to facilitate broader use of P3s in Canadian infrastructure projects.


VINCI IN NUMBERS

Staff: 180,000
Profit: 鈧1.6bn (拢1.4bn)
Turnover: 鈧34bn (拢30bn)
Target for Canadian PFI hospital work: 拢1.2bn