The Canadian construction company building Bermuda’s new airport terminal is planning to put itself up for sale.

Aecon Group said yesterday that it had hired advisers from Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal to explore a potential sale of the company.

Aecon is the prime contractor on the airport project, under a public-private partnership involving the Bermuda Government and the Canadian Commercial Corporation.

Trading of Aecon shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange was temporarily suspended yesterday after the news caused the stock to trade up to 26 per cent higher. Aecon closed at C$17.22, up 20.2 per cent for the day, valuing the company at about C$1.01 billion ($810 million).

The company is likely to attract interest from Chinese bidders, according to sources cited by Bloomberg News.

In a statement, Aecon said: “Any transaction would be intended to create shareholder value and enhance the company’s capabilities and growth potential.

“There can be no assurance that this process will result in any agreement or that a transaction will be consummated.”

The company gave no further reasoning behind its plans to sell, but one analyst, speaking to Reuters, believed the impetus came from an activist investor.

“If the market doesn’t recognise value, you may get activist shareholders who will,” said Irwin Michael, portfolio manager at ABC Funds.

Activist investor Eric Rosenfeld of New York-based Crescendo Partners was nominated to Aecon’s board two months ago. He held 214,000 shares as of July 7.

In addition to its work in the infrastructure, energy and mining sectors in Canada, Aecon has also worked internationally on projects including the Cross Israel Highway and Quito International Airport in Ecuador.