Investment bank Goldman Sachs is understood to have been approached to handle the sale, according to the Financial Times.

An industry insider says that Amey will likely adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach until a deal is done and described the company as being in “a healthy state” with an order book worth in the region of £11Bn.

But difficulties with a PFI deal in Birmingham led to significant losses for Amey of around £200M in fines. In February, the City Council won a long running legal dispute against the company which stemmed from conflicting interpretations of the firm’s 25 year contract.

But Amey’s fortunes have been on the up recently, winning several major road contracts. These include a £50M design services agreement with Highways England to deliver improvements on motorways and major A roads in the North West. The company was also named as the highways maintenance and response contractor for Area 10 in the North West in a deal worth £325M.

Amey has also recently teamed up with Sir Robert McAlpine to become a delivery integration partner across the North of England as part of Highways England’s Regional Delivery Partnership.

Earlier this year Amey took on a number of rail contracts previously run by Carillion including work on the East Coast and Midland mainlines as well as Crossrail.

Amey employs in the region of 20,000 staff in the UK. Ferrovial bought Amey for around £81M in 2003.

Photograph: Amey