AECOM Technology Corporation has today announced that it will acquire all outstanding shares of URS Corporation in a deal worth around £2.3 billion.
The combined company will employ more than 95,000 employees in 150 countries.
Michael S. Burke, AECOM president and chief executive officer commented;
“This combination creates an industry leader with the ability to deliver more capabilities from a broad global platform to reach more clients in more industry end markets.”
“Clients, employees and stockholders of both companies will benefit from the opportunities created by these expanded capabilities, broad global reach in key growth markets and economies of scale. In one step, we will dramatically accelerate our strategy of creating an integrated delivery platform with superior capabilities to design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets around the world.”
Martin M. Koffel, chairman and chief executive officer of URS added that the combined company is expected to be better positioned to compete for major, complex projects across a diverse range of end markets and geographic regions.
The terms of the agreement have been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies - the transaction is expected to close in October 2014.
The companies are anticipating a seamless integration – they have designed a new operating management structure that will include proven senior leaders from both URS and AECOM.
AECOM will become one of the largest companies by revenue in the global engineering and construction industry. The combined firm will be headquartered in Los Angeles and AECOM also expects to maintain a key operational presence in San Francisco, where URS is headquartered.
The two companies are already world leaders in the infrastructure industry - the combined company will be a fully integrated infrastructure firm, serving clients across a broad range of markets, including transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government.
URS will add to AECOM’s construction capabilities, deepening a core competency that AECOM expects to leverage across its global platform. URS also brings strong sector expertise in important end markets, including oil & gas, power and government services.
Michael Burke added:
“The combination of AECOM and URS creates an industry leader with unsurpassed capacity to deliver integrated solutions across AECOM’s existing markets. We will have the ability to design and deliver major civil infrastructure projects in sectors such as transportation and water. In addition, we expect to seize opportunities to more broadly leverage our direct investment vehicle, AECOM Capital.”
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