Two industry giants are taking steps to expand their footprints, revealing agreements for major acquisitions that, if and when completed, would total about $535 million. London-based engineering and project management firm AMEC said on May 17 that it has agreed to buy Atlanta-area engineer MACTEC for $280 million in cash. EMCOR Group Inc., the Norwalk, Conn., specialty contractor, said the next day that it planned to pay $255 million in cash to acquire USM Services Holdings Inc., a Norristown, Pa., facilities maintenance firm, from its Australian parent.
AMEC’s proposed deal elevates MACTEC, now 85% owned by a private equity firm, into the global services market, while boosting the prospective parent’s presence in the U.S. Under the deal, set to close by the end of June, MACTEC and its 2,600 U.S. employees in 70 offices would join AMEC’s Earth & Environmental (E&E) subsidiary. That unit, now in Atlanta, would shift its base to Alpharetta, Ga., a suburb where MACTEC is located. The acquisition would boost E&E’s global employment to 7,000. AMEC says it employs a total of 23,000 in 40 countries.