Royal BAM Group, the Dutch parent of Flatiron Construction Corp., Longmont, Colo., has sold the contractor to Hochtief AG, Essen, Germany.

Hochtief will acquire all shares of Flatiron for about $243 million. The acquisition expands Hochtief's American holdings into the U.S. infrastructure and public-private transportation construction market. The firm also owns Turner Corp., the Dallas-based building contractor and construction manager.

Related Links: Will Hochtief Buy Flatiron?, 07/17/2007

Flatiron, with annual revenue last year of $626 million, and its joint venture partner Manson Construction Co. and lead designer Figg Bridge Engineers, Inc., have been selected by the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation as the apparent design-build team to rebuild the collapsed Interstate-35 bridge in Minneapolis. The selection is being protested, however, by losing proposal teams. The Flatiron team proposed building a new $233.8-million bridge in 437 days, which is within state estimates.

Flatiron has 1,700 employees.

"Flatiron is a perfect fit for us," says Hochtief Chairman Herbert L�tkestratk�tter. "We now combine decades of civil engineering competence of the Hochtief Group, the international PPP know-how of HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions and the broad market position of Turner in U.S. general building, with a well positioned vendor in the U.S. civil engineering market.� Flatiron also claims to be well positioned in western Canada's booming oil sand and mining industry.

Martin Rohr, a member of the executive board of Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft, becomes Flatiron chairman. The new unit will be an independent subsidiary of the Hochtief Americas division.

Hochtief has nearly 47,000 employees and 2006 revenue of $19.8 billion.