Project management and services company Amec has announced plans to sell off its French business Amec Spie to newly-formed private equity firm PAI.

Sale of the business is expected to be completed in late summer and generate more than £700m for Amec, which signalled in November last year that it was planning to concentrate more on project management. Amec Spie provides a range of specialist electrical engineering and communications services to the rail and energy industries and employs 23,000 people at 380 locations throughout Europe. Currently Amec, which has worked with the likes of Manchester and Newcastle city councils on regeneration projects, employs 45,000 people in more than 40 countries and generates annual revenues of around £5bn.