Engineering Inc. - May/June 2016 - (Page 48)

Mergers and Acquisitions BY N E I L C H U R M A N Stantec, Pennoni Active Amid Slowed M&A A fter a booming year in 2015, engineering industry mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity slowed in the first quarter of 2016. Morrissey Goodale tracked just 49 domestic deals (sales of architecture, engineering and consulting firms based in the United States), compared to 70 deals in Q1 of 2015 (Figure 1) and the lowest Q1 since 2013. While activity levels still appear to be healthy, the momentum behind engineering industry consolidation slowed in terms of the number of transactions reported, which is down from historic highs. Despite dealmakers pumping the brakes, several bright spots emerged during the first quarter. Florida came back in a big way as a hot spot for M&A activity. There were nine sales of Floridabased firms during the first three months of the year (Figure 2). With ACEC Member Dewberry (Fairfax, Va.) announcing its acquisition of fellow ACEC Member Preble-Rish (Port St. Joe, Fla.) in early April, Florida has already matched its total for all of 2015 with 10 transactions. Among industry firms, no one had a more industryimpacting first quarter than design powerhouse and ACEC Member Stantec, which announced deals with three ENR Top 500 design firms. Largest among them was Stantec's announcement that it had reached an agreement to acquire global water expert and ACEC Member MWH Global. The deal adds 6,800 employees worldwide and is anticipated to place the combined firm among the top three design firms in North America and top 15 globally, and at $795 million, the transaction ranks among the largest deals in the engineering industry in recent years. Stantec also announced deals with Bury-a 300-person engineering surveying, land planning and landscape architecture firm-and with VOA Associates-280-person architecture and planning firm with global reach. Adding nearly 7,500 staff among these three deals, Stantec brought on board more employees than all of the other domestic deals we tracked in Q1 combined. ACEC Member Pennoni was also active in Q1 with acquisitions of McCarthy and Associates (Clearwater, Fla.), a structural engineering consulting firm; ACEC Member RWD Consultants (Camden, N.J.), which specializes in civil/site, environmental, transportation and construction industries; and EPN Group (Largo, Fla.), which specializes in transportation, stormwater and drainage, and civil engineering. Recent ACEC Deal-Makers MARCH 2016 ACEC Member Atkins (Epsom, UK) acquired Howard Humphreys East Africa Limited Group (Nairobi, Kenya), a 200-person engineering and project management firm serving the transportation, water, and property markets. ACEC Member MorrisonMaierle (Helena, Mont.) acquired Murtagh Municipal Engineering (Billings, Mont.), a water and wastewater engineering firm. MHF Engineering (Jefferson, Iowa) joined ACEC Member Bolton & Menk (Mankato, Minn.). MHF offers municipal and agricultural drainage engineering, along with landsurveying services. Rhode Island architecture firm Saccoccio & Associates (Cranston, R.I.) acquired the architecture division of ACEC Member CDR Maguire (Doral, Fla.). ACEC Member Tetra Tech (Pasadena, Calif.) acquired information technology solutions firm INDUS Corporation (Vienna, Va.), a specialist in data analytics, geospatial analysis, secure infrastructure, and software applications management. Engineering, procurement and construction firm The Haskell Company (Jacksonville, Fla.) acquired ACEC Member Leidos Constructors, (Reston, Va.), as well as select design assets of Leidos Engineering. Pro Forma Architecture, Inc. (Dallas) merged with ACEC Member PGAL (Houston). ACEC Member PBS Engineering and Environmental, Inc. (Portland, Ore.) and HDJ Design Group (Vancouver, Wash.) announced their merger as a means to expand their geographic exposure. FEBRUARY 2016 Apex Companies (Rockville, Md.) acquired ACEC Member The Source Group (Pleasant Hill, Calif.), a technical consulting and environmental engineering firm specializing in complex subsurface site assessments, remedial design, litigation management, and remediation. 48 ENGINEERING INC. MAY / JUNE 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - May/June 2016

Engineering Inc. - May/June 2016
Contents
From ACEC to You
Market Watch
Legislative Action
2016 Convention Wrap-Up
ACEC 2016 Engineering Excellence Awards
The Winner’s Circle
Setting the Standard
Mergers and Acquisitions
Members in the News
Business Insights

Engineering Inc. - May/June 2016