Two construction companies, a designer and a contractor with major footholds in South Africa, take somewhat different views of the country’s market prospects in these tougher economic times.
U.K.-based Mott MacDonald Group, London, accelerated its upward trajectory in South Africa last month by announcing its acquisition of the Johannesburg-based power-sector designer Merz and McLellan Pty. Ltd. The 45-person firm, with offices in South Africa and Botswana, has been a player in the region’s energy market since 1910 and now will boost Mott MacDonald’s power-generation and transmission business, says group Chairman Peter Wickens. Merz McLellan Managing Director Richard Frantz is now a divisional director in the U.K. firm’s South African power business.