Engineering Inc. - September/October 2015 - (Page 52)

Mergers and Acquisitions BY NEIL CHURMAN M&A Setting Record Pace in First Half of 2015 D eal making among industry firms continued to accelerate through the first six months of 2015, with 117 sales of U.S.based A/E firms, up from 113 sales during the first six months of 2014. Sales of international firms also ticked up, with 53 sales of overseas firms as of June 30 versus 48 in the same period last year. Overall, global activity through the first six months increased nearly 6 percent. The "megadeals" we saw in 2014 (such as AECOM acquiring URS) have tapered off, but firms continue to look to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to enhance and fill gaps in their current service offerings. In many of the deals over the first half of 2015, buyers added niche capabilities, such as program management (PM) and owner's representation services, or expanded their geographic footprints. For example, in March, ACEC Member STV acquired Mass.-based Diversified Project Management, a provider of owner's PM services, while ACEC Member NV5 acquired two PM firms-Mass.-based Joslin, Lesser & Associates in February and San Francisco-based Mendoza & Associates in April. According to Anatoly Darov, chair of the Design and Construction Practice Group at Burns & Levinson, "PM firms offer specialized expertise in managing capital facility projects, an area that has become much more complex and regulated over the past decade. Engineering companies and commercial real estate firms, in particular, looking to expand client service offerings and gain expertise in capital program advisory, project controls and 52 ENGINEERING INC. oversight, and risk management have been active in this space where consolidation historically has been limited. PM firms also offer access to lucrative institutional relationship clients and long-term program engagements." Firms will likely continue to use M&A as they seek to capitalize on the strong U.S. market. The industry continues to consolidate at all levels, with mega firms combining and smaller firms making niche acquisitions. If the pace of deal making in the second half of the year matches the first, we'll see another record year for industry M&A. Recent ACEC Deal-Makers JULY 2015 ACEC Member Wantman Group (West Palm Beach, Fla.), a multidisciplinary consulting firm, acquired ACEC Member Bridge Design Associates (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.), which provides engineering services for buildings, bridges, ocean piers, marinas, docks, seawalls and pump stations. ACEC Member NV5 (Hollywood, Fla.) acquired RBA Group (Parsippany, N.J.), an infrastructure engineering firm that provides transportation engineering, construction inspection, environmental engineering, civil engineering, surveying and architecture services to public and private clients throughout the East Coast. ACEC Member Stantec (Edmonton, Canada) acquired VI Engineering (Houston), a power and electrical engineering firm. ACEC Member Pennoni Associates (Philadelphia) acquired the assets of J2 Engineering (Pensacola, Fla.), which SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 ■ To view the most up-to-date and "live" versions of the M&A heat maps, and to see 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/SeptOct2015. ■ To see an infographic highlighting A/E/C M&A activity through the first half of 2015, visit www.morrisseygoodale.com/2015-Mid-Year-Review.html. provides environmental, engineering, construction management and design-build services. CEI Architecture (Vancouver), one of western Canada's leading architectural practices, merged with ACEC Member HDR (Omaha, Neb.). JUNE 2015 ACEC Member Tighe & Bond (Westfield, Mass.) acquired Waterfront Engineers (Stratham, N.H.), which provides specialized engineering services for shoreline challenges and waterfront facilities. ACEC Member Terracon Consultants (Olathe, Kan.) acquired AQS Environmental (Omaha, Neb.), an air quality consulting firm with experience solving mold, asbestos, leadbased paint, indoor air quality and radon issues. ACEC Member H2M architects + engineers (Melville, N.Y.) acquired Riddick Associates (Suffern, N.Y.), a civil engineering firm emphasizing water and wastewater disciplines. ACEC Member G2 Consulting Group (Troy, Mich.) acquired Schleede-Hampton Associates (Birmingham, Mich.), specialists in geotechnical engineering services to the construction industry. ACEC Member WSP Global (Montreal, Canada) acquired Faveo Group (Oslo, Norway) and Levelton (Richmond, Canada). Faveo provides project management services and associated specialist services in the areas of infrastructure and energy. Levelton offers engineering solutions in the areas of environment, geotechnical, building science, and materials engineering and testing. 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@ morrisseygoodale.com. http://www.morrisseygoodale.com http://www.morrisseygoodale.com/ACECMergers/SeptOct2015 http://www.morrisseygoodale.com/2015-Mid-Year-Review.html

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - September/October 2015

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2015
Contents
From ACEC to You
Market Watch
Legislative Action
Unlocking the Ocean’s Secrets
Positive Impressions
Low Water, High Hopes
International Corruption
Leading the Way, Lending a Hand
Guest Column
2015 Fall Conference
Guest Column
Guest Column
Business Insights
Members in the News
Mergers and Acquisitions

Engineering Inc. - September/October 2015