An industry-wide sellers’ market helped fuel record-setting merger-and-acquisition activity among engineering and construction firms in 2018, enabling buyers to better adapt to multiple trends reshaping the industry.

根据FMI Capital Advisors Inc.最近发布的一项趋势调查，去年宣布的534次行业交易超过了2015年创下的纪录，近22％。FMI董事总经理亚历克斯·米勒（Alex Miller）解释说，这种洪水活动的时机是正确的，特别是考虑到愿意卖家的大量“人口积压”。

“Many baby boomer owners who put off retirement because of the recession saw the current strong market as a good time to exit,” Miller explains.

Buyers were likewise plentiful, with heightened demand for technical expertise joining growth and service expansion as primary acquisition drivers, the survey found. “If you’re not growing, you struggle to create opportunities for people and retain talent,” says Dan Pleasant, COO of Fairfax, Va.-based Dewberry, which has made multiple acquisitions of regional engineering firms in recent years, including last year’s purchase of J3 Engineering Consultants Inc., Greenwood Village, Colo.

Pleasant says that while a primarily organic strategy tends to be easier for smaller companies, there comes a point where sustaining that pace requires a firm to look outward. Dewberry applies both approaches, he says, with approximately 40% of its recent growth coming via “strategic” acquisitions aimed at a particular region, market sector or service line.

垂直集成继续

最近的并购活动还反映了朝着更垂直综合的服务提供商发展的行业趋势，FMI的Miller说，这一发展始于工业和过程部门。现在，它已进入传统的建筑市场，以响应基于设计建设的项目交付模型的更广泛使用。

Contractors’ willingness to adopt off-site component production and prefabrication methods is also a factor, says Trevor Schick, who heads Katerra’s construction, renovations and supply chain.

Rather than focusing on increased revenue, Schick explains, Katerra’s acquisition strategy aims to expedite a broader rollout of its technology-driven, integrated building approach, which he says has enjoyed success among West Coast clients. An early 2018 private capital infusion of $865 million helped the Menlo Park, Calif., company finance upgrades to its production facilities and acquire Bristlecone Construction Co., Littleton, Colo., and Fields Construction Co., Hoboken, N.J. Katerra also purchased two architectural studios and KEF Infra, an off-site manufacturing technology specialist based in India.

Schick说：“我们的目标既是'脚步'，又是执行水平的人才，他们了解建筑行业必须改变并愿意帮助我们做到这一点。”但是，过去三年来的收购数量掩盖了寻找接受Katerra方法的潜在伙伴的挑战。Schick说：“许多GC只想保留相同的模型，而我们的方法需要改变思维方式。”

卡特拉（Katerra）最近介绍了支持建筑物生命周期的阿波罗软件平台，还说明了FMI调查的发现，即技术越来越被视为市场差异化。FMI 2018年的并购调查受访者中有将近一半报告说已经打算购买技术解决方案或商业化现有内部产品。

Among those adding technology capabilities via acquisition was San Diego construction management services firm Gafcon Inc., which purchased Orange County, Calif.-based McDowell Scheduling. Founder Philip McDowell, who joined Gafcon as director of scheduling, also will contribute to developing new tools for project modeling and visualization.

Gafcon co-founder and CEO Yehudi “Gaf” Gaffen says technology capabilities have long been one of the company’s core offerings, making it a potential acquisition target in recent years. Now, having turned the tables on the process, he says the new technology tool will be pivotal in helping Gafcon vie successfully for complex construction programs, which are increasingly the norm.

He notes that McDowell’s technology already has proven itself by helping to clarify scheduling complexities associated with the $1.5-billion Seaport San Diego redevelopment. “Owners want more accountability and value in the services they receive,” he says.

Preparing for Uncertain Prospects

尽管许多行业公司在2018年使用收购来扩大其规模和能力，但许多大型组织选择退缩。著名的剥离包括雅各布斯（Jacobs）向Worleyparsons出售33亿美元的能源，化学和资源业务，以及Stantec的MWH建筑商建筑部门的衍生产品，该部门在2016年购买MWH Global中获得。

Stantec总裁兼首席执行官戈德·约翰斯顿（Gord Johnston）在宣布此举时说，MWH建筑商“在英国和美国拥有增长机会，我们相信这种剥离将使他们更好地投资和追求增长，同时继续为客户服务。”

FMI的米勒说，这种举动表明大型公司重新评估市场并专注于核心业务，尤其是鉴于对即将发生的经济放缓的预测。他说：“卖方市场使得处置非核心资产是一个很好的机会，因为他们有胃口。”

FMI projects the uptick in M&A activity to continue through 2019 and beyond, albeit at a reduced pace. The year already has seen EMCOR, ranked second among ENR’s Top Specialty Contractors, acquire Baker Electric of Des Moines, Iowa. Top 400 contractor Cianbro, Pittsfield, Maine, recently purchased Connecticut construction services provider A/Z Corp.

米勒（Miller）认为，许多活跃的买家可能会随着他们已经采取的消化动作，整合新员工和服务并评估修订后的市场格局而暂停收购活动。

Other firms, however, may just be getting started.

“Some firms will see that competitors are growing and they’re not,” Miller says. “Even if a market slowdown were to happen, their growth expectations are still higher, and they’ll see the need to take action.”

Pleasant says that while Dewberry has the financial resources to remain alert for potential acquisitions, the pace will be moderated by availability of senior management resources to oversee what is typically a one- to two-year integration process.

“We’ve learned from past transitions that you need to assign a well-respected leader within the company who can focus exclusively on the process in order to make it successful,” he says.