Britain's Serco Group wins $2 bln Australian contract

June 20 (Reuters) - Serco Group Plc (Other OTC: SCGPY - news) has won a contract worth about A$2.6 billion ($1.98 billion) to operate what will be Australia's largest correctional facility, the British outsourcing company said on Tuesday.

Winning the contract is a major boost for Serco, which has been restructuring after a string of profit warnings.

Serco is part of the NorthernPathways consortium which will design, build and operate the New Grafton Correctional Centre (NGCC) in New South Wales in a Public Private Partnership for the New South Wales government.

Serco, which said in March that it had been named as the preferred bidder on the project, said its contract for operation is expected to commence in 2020.

Serco, which provides security, traffic, defence and education services for governments across the world, has suffered in recent years following problems with government contracts that included overcharging the British government for monitoring criminals and escalating costs on a deal to provide accommodation to UK asylum seekers.

Britain's outsourcing sector has also been hit by uncertainty created by the country's vote to leave the European Union, causing delays to contract decisions. ($1 = 1.3139 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Louise Heavens)