Once part of Marconi, one of Britain's most famous industrial names, Telent ended up under the control of JC Flowers, the private equity firm, as part of a deal involving Pension Insurance Corporation, the specialist insurer, several years ago.
Sky News has learnt that Amey, which endured years of financial difficulties before being taken over by two private equity firms in 2022, has tabled an indicative offer to buy Telent.
An outsourcing group backed by Lord Hammond, the former chancellor of the exchequer, is among the suitors circling Telent, a major provider of digital infrastructure services.
Amey is understood to be competing against at least one other trade bidder and one financial bidder for Telent.
The outsourcer was previously owned by Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure giant, but ran into financial trouble before being sold just over two years ago.
