The global construction market had been booming in 2007 and through midyear 2008, and large international contractors and design firms reaped the benefits. The demand for big-ticket projects, from petroleum production facilities and powerplants to major infrastructure upgrades and signature buildings, made the demand intense for world-class contractors with the size and expertise to deliver these projects. As a result, big firms around the world were scrambling to grow, either organically or through acquisition, to meet this demand.
For many firms, this booming market has come to a screeching halt. The faltering U.S. stock market and failure of many major financial institutions has caused a tightening of credit that is jeopardizing projects on a broad scale. Unlike the Asian financial meltdown of 1997, the South America economic woes of the late 1990s or the soft buildings market and the post-9/11 U.S. recession of 2001-2002, the market downturn is not a localized phenomenon but one on a global scale.