ACS Combines Flatiron, Dragados Into Single Engineering and Construction Company

Peter Davoren, CEO of Turner Construction, will also be chairman of the merged entity

Harbor_Bridge_contruction_April 2024.jpg — Flatiron and Dragados are already in a joint venture for construction of the $1.2-billion Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas, shown in an April progress photo.
*Photo courtesy of the Harbor Bridge Project*

ACS Group says it is integrating its North American civil engineering and construction businesses by combining its Dragados unit with Flatiron Construction into a single operation. In announcing the combination July 30, Madrid-based ACS said Flatiron-Dragados would become the second-largest civil engineering firm in the U.S.

"The operation aims to simplify the group's structure of the civil engineering activity in North America, facilitate the relationship with different stakeholders and promote administrative and financial synergies," ACS stated.

The boards of Hochtief, which has owned Flatiron since 2007, and ACS have approved the transaction, but it will be finalized later in 2024, the firms said.

There had already been close links between the companies. ACS is also majority owner of Hochtief, the Essen, Germany-based contractor that owns Turner Construction Co.

Flatiron and Dragados have also been joint venture partners and currently are in a joint venture as prime contractor for Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas, and for Construction Package 2-3 of the California High Speed Rail project.

ACS and Hochtief stated that they had agreed to terms under which ACS Group would own 61.8% and Hochtief 38.2% of Flatiron-Dragados. Broomfield, Colo.-based Flatiron and New York City-based Dragados reported a combined $6.4 billion in 2023 revenue and ranked at Nos. 49 and 37, respectively, on the ENR Top 400 Contractors list.

Flatiron CEO Javier Sevilla was named as CEO of the newly formed entity, with Peter Davoren serving as the new company's chairman. He remains CEO, president and chairman of Turner Construction, which announced this month an acquisition bid for Dornan Engineering Group, an Ireland-based advanced technology specialist.

Separately, ACS reported results for the first half of 2024 of $450 million in net after-tax profit, up 8.1% over the prior year first half, on $20.2 billion in revenue, due to solid performance "especially Turner in North America."

ACS further reported Turner had first-half revenue of $9.35 billion, up 13.5% from the first half in 2023, and pre-tax profit of $267 million, up 38.5%.

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.