SNC-Lavalin expands reach with $3.6B takeover of British firm

Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin says it has completed a $3.6-billion, all-cash takeover of a British engineering firm.

The friendly acquisition of WS Atkins, first announced in April, took effect on July 3, after receiving approval from Atkins shareholders and British courts last week.

SNC-Lavalin, the largest engineering and construction firm in Canada, says the deal will expand its global reach.

“By combining our two highlycomplementary businesses, we are solidifying SNC-Lavalin’s position as one of the largest, fullyintegrated, professional services firms in the world, while improving our margins and balancing our business portfolio,” Neil Bruce, SNC-Lavalin’s president and CEO, said in a press release.

Atkins is the largest engineering and design consultancy in the United Kingdom and has significant operations in Scandinavia. It also operates in the United States, the Middle East and Asia. It is noted for its work designing transportation infrastructure.

With the addition of Atkins’s 18,000 employees, SNC-Lavalin now employs 50,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $12 billion.

The deal is expected to result in $120 million in cost savings during the first year for the combined firm, the company says, with around $30 million of that on the SNC-Lavalin side. Those savings are largely expected to come from combining back office and corporate operations.

The acquisition comes just three days after SNC-Lavalin announced it was selling a portfolio of its Canadian infrastructure holdings — including 80 per cent of its stake in the MUHC Glen site — to a European company for more than $200 million.

The week before, it sold its headquarters, on René-Lévesque Blvd. W., and an adjacent lot to GWL Realty Advisors for $170 million.

The moves appear to be part of a plan to focus the company on its core engineering and construction businesses and to free up capital for new projects.

SNC-Lavalin employs around 2,000 people in Montreal.