A plan to shore up Carillion’s balance sheet with a rights issue was rejected in favour of taking on more debt

Carillion’s board of directors blocked multiple chances to raise new cash in the run-up to the outsourcing giant’s catastrophic collapse, The Sunday Times can reveal.

A plan to shore up the company’s balance sheet with a sizeable rights issue was first examined in 2013 — but rejected in favour of taking on more debt.

Another attempt to raise about £500m in fresh funds, via new shares, was rejected by its board and bankers in the first half of last year.

MPs are due to publish a devastating report on the company’s collapse on Tuesday. The joint report by members of the work and pensions and business committees is set to castigate directors of the company, and criticise a catalogue of corporate governance failings. It is