Aecon sells its investment in Churchill Corporation

TORONTO, Nov. 22 /CNW/ - Aecon Group Inc. (TSX: ARE) announced today that it has sold all of the common shares it acquired earlier this year in Churchill Corporation ("Churchill"), resulting in net proceeds, after costs, of $60.8 million and a pre-tax gain of approximately $2 million.

On June 15, 2010 Aecon announced that it had purchased 3,056,000 subscription receipts offered by Churchill, which it subsequently converted to common shares.  Including additional shares purchased through The Toronto Stock Exchange, Aecon acquired a total of 3,513,600 common shares, or approximately 14.7 percent of the outstanding common shares of Churchill.

"We made this investment because we saw good value in a company and sector we know well, and because we saw an opportunity to explore areas of mutual interest," said John M. Beck, Aecon's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Since that time, the significant progress we have made in merging Aecon Buildings into our Infrastructure operations, and the expansion of our core business in Western Canada to include mining have diminished the rationale for exploring further strategic alignment with Churchill. Disposing of our stake in Churchill allows us to continue to focus on the fundamentals of our business, including the continuing integration of our Buildings and Infrastructure businesses, establishing Aecon Mining, and strong project execution." 

Raymond James Ltd. acted as Aecon's agent for the transaction.

Aecon Group Inc. is Canada's largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company. Aecon and its subsidiaries provide services to private and public sector clients throughout Canada and on a selected basis internationally. Aecon is pleased to be recognized as one of the Best Employers in Canada as published by Maclean's Magazine.

The information in this press release includes certain forward-looking statements. These "forward-looking" statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans but are subject to risks and uncertainties.  In addition to general global events outside Aecon's control, there are factors which could cause actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those expressed or inferred herein including risks associated with an investment in the common shares of Aecon and the risks related to Aecon's business, including Large Project Risk and Contractual Factors. Risk factors are discussed in greater detail in the section on "Risk Factors" in the Final Short Form Prospectus filed on October 1, 2010 and available at www.sedar.com.  Forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations or financial position of Aecon, as well as statements preceded by, followed by, or that include the words "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "intends," "should" or similar expressions.  Important factors, in addition to those discussed in this document, could affect the future results of Aecon and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements.

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For further information:

Mitch Patten
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Affairs
Aecon Group Inc.
416-297-2615
[email protected]
www.aecon.com