Tata & Howard, Inc. has acquired the assets of civil engineering consultancy Roald Haestad, Inc. (RHI), for an undisclosed sum. Both firms specialize in water-related consulting engineering services and are based in Waterbury, Conn. The deal adds to the growing list of mergers and acquisitions of industry firms operating in the tristate region. This includes WSP Global Inc.’s recently announced plan to buy Parsons Brinckerhoff from Balfour Beatty for $1.35 billion.

Photo by Sue Pearsall

Coming Together: Industry merger and acquisition activity is heating up.

T&H focuses on water, wastewater, stormwater and hazardous water engineering services. The deal bolsters its existing offerings by providing additional civil engineering services including dam engineering, surveying, and streamflow release analysis, Donald J. Tata, T&H co-founder and president, said in an Aug. 27 statement.

RHI president, Ronald G. Litke, will retire but remain available on a limited basis, Tata says. All other RHI employees as well as its Waterbury office will be retained, he says.

"The acquisition significantly adds to our talent base and also expands our geographic presence in New England," Tata says.

Meanwhile, Canada's WSP says it plans to close the deal for New York City-based PB by the end of the fourth quarter. PB ranked as No. 3 this year on ENR New York’s list of Top Design Firms, with $172.70 million in 2013 regional revenue; PB ranked No. 24 on Engineering News-Record’s Top 150 Global Design Firms list, with $1.72 billion in global design revenue last year.

The WSP-PB deal would create a professional services giant of nearly 32,000 employees that WSP President and CEO Pierre Shoiry says would be the world's largest pure-play consulting firm.

That deal follows AECOM Technology Corp.'s purchase of Hunt Construction Group, for an undisclosed sum. The announcement came on the heels of AECOM's announced plan to buy URS Corp. for $6 billion in cash, stock and assumption of debt. The AECOM-Hunt transaction, which is set to close in October, would create a firm with 95,000 employees and pro forma revenue of $20 billion.