Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that it has acquired the Halsall Group, a Canadian professional services firm based in Toronto, for a cash consideration of C$53 million (£33 million)1.
Halsall, which was employee owned, provides design and engineering services to the building market, with particular strengths in sustainable design and restoration. Halsall also provides structural engineering services to clients in the transportation market.
With seven offices in Canada and over 300 employees, Halsall has grown in the buoyant Canadian market generating C$46 million (£26 million)2 in revenue in 2009 and achieving strong margins.
Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said:
"The acquisition of Halsall extends the geographic reach of Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), our professional services business, in Canada, which we believe is an attractive infrastructure market. Halsall will provide PB, and the wider Balfour Beatty Group, with a great platform to develop a successful Canadian business."
Parsons Brinckerhoff President and Chief Executive Officer, George Pierson, said:
"We are thrilled to have the Halsall Group as part of PB. The joining of Halsall's strength in buildings with PB's strength in transportation infrastructure allows us both to offer enhanced services to existing and new clients throughout Canada. We share Halsall's values and commitment to community sustainability and are enthusiastic about the great potential to be realised by this acquisition."
ENDS
1 Exchange rate of £1 = C$1.61.
2 Based on an average exchange rate of £1 = C$1.78 in 2009.
Analyst/investor enquiries:
Basak Kotler
Balfour Beatty plc
Tel 020 7216 6924
Media enquiries:
Duncan Murray
Balfour Beatty plc
Tel 020 7216 6865
Notes to Editors:
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Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a world-class infrastructure group operating in professional services, construction services, support services and infrastructure investments.
We work in partnership with our customers principally in the UK, continental Europe, the US, South-East Asia, Australia and the Middle East, who value the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise.
Key infrastructure markets include transportation (roads, rail and airports); social infrastructure (education, specialist healthcare, and various types of accommodation); utilities (water, gas and power transmission and generation) and commercial (offices, leisure and retail).
The Group delivers services essential to the development, creation and care of these infrastructure assets including project design, financing and management, engineering and construction, and facilities management services.
Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.
Balfour Beatty Capital Group opened an office in Toronto in November 2009 to focus on opportunities in the Canadian public-private partnership (P3) market, including higher education, social infrastructure and renewable energy.
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Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) is a global strategic consulting, engineering and programme/construction management organisation, and is the professional services division of Balfour Beatty plc.
PB is a leader in developing and operating infrastructure around the world, with over 14,000 employees dedicated to meeting the needs of clients and communities in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia-Pacific regions.
PB offers skills and resources in strategic consulting, planning, engineering, programme/construction management, and operations for all types of infrastructure, including transportation, power, urban planning and design, water and the environment.
Following the integration of Balfour Beatty Management and Heery with PB, organisational structures have been simplified to focus on Americas Transportation; Americas Buildings (Heery); Americas Power/Energy; US Federal; Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa; and Asia, Australia Pacific and Southern Africa.
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The Halsall Group (www.halsall.com) is a Canadian professional services business, comprising Halsall Associates, Pivotal Projects and Loop Initiatives.
Halsall Associates is a consulting engineering firm founded in 1956, based in Toronto, Ontario; Pivotal Projects is a project management company and Loop Initiatives is the corporate sustainability consulting business of the Halsall Group.
Halsall Group’s private sector clients operate in the commercial, education, healthcare, hospitality and residential markets, and its public sector clients operate in the infrastructure sector.
Halsall has been one of Canada's Top 100 employers for four consecutive years.
