黑洞社区

Arcadis鈥� planned 拢256m acquisition of UK engineer Hyder will benefit its existing UK-based business EC Harris by enabling it to offer a 鈥渇ull set of integrated services鈥�, the boss of the Dutch engineering giant has said.

Arcadis revealed last week it has agreed a deal with the board of 拢297m-turnover, 4,500-strong Hyder, with the acquisition expected to close in the fourth quarter this year, subject to shareholder backing.

The deal will see Arcadis grow to become a 鈧�2.9bn-turnover (拢2.3bn), 26,500-strong business.

Arcadis chief executive Neil McArthur told 黑洞社区 this week that EC Harris would 鈥渂enefit greatly from the deal鈥�, particularly from being able to 鈥渃ombine its project management, cost management and business advisory services with Hyder鈥檚 design and engineering services鈥� in the UK and Middle East.

McArthur said: 鈥淭he deal will allow EC Harris to offer our clients a full suite of business capabilities, including design and engineering.鈥�

The deal will allow EC Harris to offer our clients a full suite of business capabilities, including design and engineering

Neil McArthur, Arcadis

Industry leaders told 黑洞社区 the Arcadis/Hyder deal, along with Aecom鈥檚 agreed $4bn (拢2.3bn) acquisition of URS announced last month - which would make Aecom the largest consultant in the UK - would shake-up the construction consultancy market.

Keith Howells, chairman of employee-owned engineer Mott MacDonald, said the deals will increase the pressure on smaller firms to be 鈥渆fficient鈥�, as large consolidated corporate firms 鈥渃an use price as a weapon in markets where they want to make headway鈥�.

He said the 16,000-strong Mott MacDonald was 鈥渧ery happy to join up with other large employee-owned firms to deliver scale and there are lots of them out there if the market gets ridiculous鈥�.

Hanif Kara, co-founder of 220-strong engineer AKT II, said the deals were 鈥渜uite positive鈥� for SME engineers: 鈥淭he gap between 鈥榮mall鈥� and 鈥榣arge鈥� is growing bigger. These [consolidating corporate firms] can鈥檛 cope with doing small complex projects in central London; they鈥檒l lose money on these. That leaves more work for firms like ours.鈥�

Lance Taylor, chief executive of cost consultant Rider Levett Bucknall, questioned the value of M&A deals in construction consultancy: 鈥淢ergers and acquisitions make great headlines but [really] only have a negative impact on the long-term interests of the acquired firm, especially its hard working staff.鈥�

David Hurcomb, chief executive of M&E firm NG Bailey, said he expected consultants to consolidate further: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e people businesses and have a lot of intellectual property to share. I think they鈥檒l get bigger and bigger and size up until they鈥檙e massive like in law or accountancy.鈥�

The Arcadis-Hyder deal will roughly double Arcadis鈥� businesses in the UK and Middle East, while enabling it to enter the Australian market for the first time.

Arcadis鈥� UK division, which trades as EC Harris, will expand to a 鈧�322m-turnover (拢255.5m), 3,800-strong business.

Arcadis鈥� Middle East business will jump to 鈧�179m (拢142m) turnover, while the firm will gain a 鈧�79m (拢63m) foothold in Australia.

McArthur said Arcadis has identified 鈥済rowth opportunities鈥� from utilising Hyder鈥檚 900-strong offshore engineering design facilities in the Philippines, India and Jordan.

Arcadis said it expected to make 鈥渁nnual pre-tax synergies of around 拢15m鈥� from the deal, with these expected to be 鈥渇ully realised by the end of 2016鈥�.