Engineering Inc. - July/August 2014 - (Page 44)

Mergers and Acquisitions BY N E I L C H U R M A N New York State: Size and Economy Not Reflected in Deal-Making Totals W Florida. Nationally, firms are spending more on acquisitions in the South and West. New York also boasts unique requirements for engineering services. Only certain types of entities can legally practice engineering in the state. Any firm seeking to break into the New York market through a merger or acquisition should seek legal counsel and have a solid plan to ensure it can practice legally. ith its combination of size, economic activity and engineering challenges, one might assume that the state of New York-home to the most populous city in the United States and the third-largest in gross state product and total population-is a hotbed of industry mergers and acquisitions. While more active than most, New York lags other states in deal activity. In 2013, we observed nine industry deals in which a New York-based firm merged or was acquired. This placed New York behind California, Texas, Florida, Colorado and Pennsylvania and only slightly ahead of much smaller states, such as Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota and Missouri, in terms of deal activity. Firms, it seems, are more focused on states with a traditionally business-friendly environment, such as Texas, or states that are experiencing significant population growth, such as 2014 REPORTED M&A ACTIVITY 2014 REPORTED M&A ACTIVITY Firm Sales by State through June 1, 2014 Firm Sales by State through June 1, 2014 5 WA MT ND navigation-related projects. ACEC Member GZA GeoEnvironmental (Norwood, Mass.) announced the acquisition of Laurel Oil & Gas Corp. (Clarksburg, W.Va.), a provider of project management and consultancy services to oil and gas operators. ACEC Member Stantec (Edmonton, Canada) signed a letter of intent to acquire USKH (Anchorage, Alaska), a multidiscipline design firm serving public and private secRecent ACEC Deal-Makers tor clients. ACEC Member KCI TechnoloACEC Member Terracon gies (Sparks, Md.) acquired (Olathe, Kan.) acquired RGA Environmental (Emeryville, Redding Linden Burr (Houston), specializing in mechanical, Calif.), a provider of hazardous electrical, plumbing and energy materials, industrial hygiene, services. safety, emergency response, ACEC Member Hatch litigation and environmental Mott MacDonald (Iselin, construction management. N.J.) acquired Coast & HarIn an interesting developbor Engineering (Edmonds, ment, though not yet officially Wash.), which specializes in a deal, Balfour Beatty is protection and restoration of reportedly considering a sale coastlines, development of port of ACEC Member Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), only five and harbor infrastructure and years after acquiring PB for the States by Total Activity: US vs Int'l Sellers: Total US Sellers 78 21 or more Transactions equivalent of $626 16 to 20 Transactions Total Int'l Sellers 28 11 to 15 Transactions million, according US Sellers to Int'l Firms 8 6 to 10 Transactions Int'l Sellers to US Firms 5 1 to 5 Transactions to Engineering News No Transactions Record. Additionally, Balfour Beatty CEO Andrew McNaughton announced he is leaving the firm. He assumed the CEO role in January 2013. ACEC Member Coffman Engineers (Seattle) acquired the assets of ACEC Member and electrical engineering and lighting design firm MOSS Engineering (Honolulu), which specializes in the design of power, commu- SD ID T o view the most up-to-date and "live" versions of the M&A heat maps accompanying this article and see who are the buyers and sellers in each state, go to www.morrisseygoodale.com. Watch the M&A Takeaway video that accompanies this article, presented by Mick Morrissey, at www.morrisseygoodale. com/ACECMergers/ JulyAugust2014. VT 1 1 2 WI WY Environmental Consultants (Salt Lake City), a full-service environmental consulting firm. ACEC Member Jacobs Engineering (Pasadena, Calif.) entered into an agreement to acquire Federal Network Systems (FNS) (Ashburn, Va.), a subsidiary of Verizon Communications. FNS provides systems integration and communication, information technology and data security solutions. ME 3 MN OR nication, specialty architectural lighting and control systems. ACEC Member Stantec (Edmonton, Canada) signed a letter of intent to acquire JBR NY MI NH MA 4 CT RI 4 10 NV IA NE 2 5 UT IL 1 CO CA KS 1 OH IN 1 WV 1 MO VA KY 1 1 AZ 3 NJ MD DE DE DC MD 3 2 PA 1 3 2 4 TN OK SC AR NM 2 11 2 TX AK MS AL GA LA 6 FL 1 44 ENGINEERING INC. © Morrissey Goodale LLC 2014 All Rights Reserved HI JULY / AUGUST 2014 NC Neil Churman is principal consultant of Morrissey Goodale LLC - a strategy, M&A and human capital solutions firm serving the A/E/C industry. Churman, who is based in the firm's Houston office, can be reached at nchurman@morrissey goodale.com. http://www.morrisseygoodale.com http://www.morrisseygoodale.com/ACECMergers/JulyAugust2014 http://www.morrisseygoodale.com/ACECMergers/JulyAugust2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - July/August 2014

Engineering Inc. - July/August 2014
Contents
From ACEC to You
Legislative Action
Market Watch
Staying on Mission
Public vs. Private
Meeting the Need
2014 Professional Liability Insurance Survey of Member Firms
Sustaining Industry Momentum
2014 Fall Conference
Risk Management
Business Insights
Members in the News
Mergers and Acquisitions

Engineering Inc. - July/August 2014