Industry consolidation moved to a new level in 2014, as the push for growth and profit—and increased pressure from new leaders, directors and shareholders—spurred engineering and construction firms to buy and merge globally.
AECOM's $6-billion purchase of URS Corp., creating a 90,000-employee giant, was the year's biggest event in terms of the new megafirm's size and the industry buzz it created. The initial story was the most-viewed item on ENR's website this year, with other related and subsequent stories also among the year's Top 25 in viewership.
Many will watch how the firms' integrate in 2015—under the globally better-known AECOM brand—their managements, clients, technologies and cultures.
Consolidation Express?
Integration also is the watchword now for other firms that forged new global links in 2014's intensified consolidation trend.
其中包括英国financially-pressured承包商Balfour Beatty that moved to sell its engineering icon unit Parsons Brinckerhoff despite efforts by Carillion, a rival contractor and potential BB buyer, to block the sale.
In the end,PB was spun off to Canada-based engineer WSP in a monumental $1.35-billion acquisition; updates on this M&A saga landed among ENR's Top 12 in most-viewed stories this year.
And now preparing for a new level of competition as combined companies are: Montreal-based SNC Lavalin and UK construction giant Kentz; UK-based AMEC and America's Foster Wheeler Corp; Australia's GHD and US-based Conestoga-Rovers; US demolition specialists LVI and NCM, and design specialists HOK and 360 Architecture.
AMEC与Foster Wheeler联手的计划to boost both firms' fortunes in energy sector work started the 2014 M&A whirlwind in mid-January, while the purchase by Danish engineering giant Ramboll of US-based global environmental specialist Environ wrapped it up in late December.
In between were corporate combinations within and across all geographies, market sectors and revenue and employee totals—as buyers and sellers looked to take best advantage of available cash, cultural fits and favorable valuations.
There was intrigue in the bidding war for UK-based consultant Hyder between Dutch design giant Arcadis and Japan's Nippon Koei that the former finally won, and in big antitrust issues raised by the combination of global materials giants LaFarge and Holcim, and of Vulcan and Martin Marietta.
新实体是否以及如何推动员工和客户的价值在2015年都具有浓厚的兴趣，以及持续行业整合的轨迹。
马萨诸塞州管理层和并购顾问Morrissey Goodale的负责人米克·莫里西（Mick Morrissey）说：“并购将拥有创纪录的一年，比2014年增长约25％。”“从整合的角度来看，行业正处于转折点。热门市场和地理位置的高性能公司将指挥记录估值。”
He sees more Chinese and South American design and construction firms "buying into the U.S." through acquisition.
环极
Executives shared their views on new challenges of doing business internationally在En新利18备用r的2014年全球峰会上, held last May in New York. Among other things, they cited multinational workforce management and new competition and compliance issues that will continue to force firms to be selective in picking the right markets, projects and partners to showcase unique skills, please clients and make money.
Latin American cement giant Cemex forged ahead as a global player after the sudden death in May of its CEO Lorenzo Zambrano, while Spanish contractors are refinancing debt and moving aggressively into new international markets to stay competitive; global desalination technology firm IDE Technologies will seek in 2015 to separate from its Israeli industrial owners to boost its market share.
Firms working in Israel and Gaza coped with construction impacts of heightened hostilities this past summer, while others took steps to deal with volatile economic and political changes in China, Russia and in other Middle East-North Africa countries.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers美国工程和建筑部门负责人肯特·戈特詹（Kent Goetjen）表示，E＆C公司“将需要利用海外的增长机会，而不会使公司处于危险之中。”
行业高管和观察家认为某些行业市场潜力Obama Administration late-2014 announced plan to normalize relations with Cuba.
"Cuba’s infrastructure is in a sorry state so unless this initiative tubes or is drastically circumscribed, whether by the US Congress or by the Cuban government trying to maintain strict controls, construction materials and [engineering and construction] will be in great demand as time goes by," says Lawrence W. Diamond, a Newark, N.J.-based partner of law firm Duane Morris and chair of its Cuba business group. "While the President’s announcement covers a lot of humanitarian and economic ground, full normalization is likely to be a long-term process. However, the toe is in the water."
Optimism-Hopefully Not Cockeyed
ENR's annual Top List surveys in 2014 of firms in various design, construction, environmental and other market sectors offered some optimism that recovery was taking hold in many sectors and would continue despite continuing market bumps.
同样，ENR季度信新利18备用心指数对高管的民意调查在第三季度达到了创纪录的水平，最少的受访者报告了缩水市场，并且在年底时保持稳定。
油价滑动是对行业公司的多种祝福。普华永道的Goetjen和其他人推测是否可以对计划的石油和天然气项目进行最终投资决策，这些决策已经促使一些公开持有的E＆C部门专家降低其2015年收入和收益预测。新利18备用网址
"The drop in oil prices is worrying for firms that have placed a big bet – either through acquisitions or key hires – in the mid-stream pipeline market," adds consultant Morrissey.
