A year ago, signs of the construction market’s collapse were as clear as a crisp autumn day – backlogs were drying up, revenues were swept away, sputtering projects went dormant, and new work was nowhere on the bare landscape. And in the midst of that chill in November 2009, Structure Tone, a New York contractor with a $3 billion book, jumped on an acquisition of L.F. Driscoll, a Philadelphia market leader with $650 million in work.
Most market observers say the construction sector’s swoon actually opened a prime season of mergers and acquisitions, a time for strong firms to not only bolster their prospects in a down market but also catapult ahead when the market finally thaws. It’s also a time when struggling firms might seek an edge through a deal, or when a dearth of work forces contractors to seek a savior in order to stay afloat.