Senior managers from ARIC, including chief financial officer Shekhar Shetty, will sit on the holding board of the new company. High-Point Rendel chief executive Kelvin Hingley also sits on the holding board.

The MBO paid just over £1 million to buy the company's 27 million shares. 'The management has been talking about this for a long time,' says Hingley. 'We did not see the benefits of being a PLC. We have worked for Al-Rushaid many times before and through that, this grew. ARIC has a majority stake with a substantial portion held by the management.'

ARIC is the 11th largest group in Saudi Arabia, with an annual turnover in excess of $1,000 million. In September 2002, ARIC increased its stake from 58 per cent to 88.5 per cent in UK contractor Cleveland Bridge Group.