Mota-Engil sells Poland operation for €90M

The Sino-Portuguese multinational construction company Mota-Engil has sold its business in Poland to the Hungarian construction giant Duna Aszfalt1 for €90 million. The deal is expected to be closed by June, 2024.

Mota-Engil Central Europe (MECE) & Construção e Promoção Imobiliária is not considered part of its current business development strategy (Strategic Building Plan 26).
The company says that by offloading its Central European operations it can “reinforce its selectivity strategy in allocating its investments, thereby increasing its focus on its core business in countries with greater growth and potential, and, by the sale, strengthening its balance”.
Mota-Engil Central Europe is one of the largest Polish construction companies, specialised in building bridges, railways and electricity infrastructures.
But the Output of Hungary’s construction sector dropped by 3.8 percent year on year in June, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday with civil engineering output plummeting by 20.5%.
In absolute terms the construction sector was worth 629.8Bn florints in June but month-on-month output has been falling by 1.4% and construction output fell by 7% between January-June. It is not known if this factor was partly behind Mota-Engil’s decision to pull out of Hungary.
Also this month, Mota-Engil and the Mexican group Prodi completed a capital injection of €90 million in Duro Felguera, the first step to become new shareholders in the Spanish listed construction company that in 2020 received public funds of €120 million.
After investing €30 million in October, it paid in a second tranche of €30 million in December.
At an extraordinary general assembly meeting in April, 98% of shareholders approved a capital call of €90 million through a lone from Mota-Engil Mexico (€40 million) and from the Mexican industrial group Duro Felguera, which specialises in public infrastructure projects (€50 million) that also has a 49% share in Mota-Engil Mexico.