January can sometimes be a bit of a duller month after the hype of Christmas and New Year, but it can also be a great opportunity to review your businesses plans for the year ahead.

If you are considering making any changes to your teams, we offer a range of executive search packages and talent mapping options that can be tailored around your requirements.

January is also a good time take a look back at what has happened in the market over the last 12 months, so it’s perfect timing for our annual Mergers & Acquisitions update.

Take a look at the biggest mergers and buyouts in transport, infrastructure and the built environment from 2021…

Turner & Townsend

In July, CBRE Group acquired a 60% stake in UK consultant Turner & Townsend in a deal worth approximately £960m.

nmcn

After nmcn entered administration in October, different parts of the business was acquired by various companies. The Water business was sold to Galliford Try and its Telecoms, Plant, Transport & Accommodation Business Units to private investment firm SVELLA.

Keltbray acquired nmcn’s portfolio of highways infrastructure contracts and associated assets.

Ferrovial

Has sold off its Infrastructure Services division in Spain and Portugal for £156m to Spanish private equity business Portobello Capital. The division covers the infrastructure maintenance and facilities management.

The sale of Amey, Ferrovial Infrastructure Services’ UK arm, is progressing, with several interested bidders in discussions.

M Group

Last month, M Group bought Babcock’s Overhead Line Power business for £50m. Following the acquisition, the business will be rebranded to form part of Morrison Energy Services, sitting alongside the existing electricity, gas and green energy capabilities.

In May 2021 they completed the acquisition of Skanska UK’s £320m revenue infrastructure services operation, which focuses on highways maintenance and street lighting contracts.

They also rounded off the year by acquiring £20m-turnover electrical control and instrumentation specialist Z-Tech Control Systems.

Bouygues

Have bought the Equans services arm of fellow French-owned energy giant Engie for €7.1bn. Equans’ activities cover a host of areas from technical services, facilities management, construction and regeneration and renewables, employing 13,500 staff.

WSP

In April WSP announced the acquisition of Golder, a global consulting firm with over 60 years of experience in providing earth sciences and environmental consulting services. The addition of Golder increases WSP’s workforce by approximately 7,000 people.

United Living

Bought telecoms infrastructure business Great British Communications in a move to broaden its offer.

M&J Evans

Walsall based ground works and civil engineering contractor M&J Evans has acquired Swindon based rival Flynn Group. Flynn has grown to become one of the leading ground engineering companies in the South West region with a workforce of over 530 staff and a turnover of £50m.

Sureserve

Specialist compliance contractor Sureserve has bought Manchester-based sustainable energy consultant CorEnergy for £7.5m.

RSK

RSK added several more businesses to the group last year. The latest deals saw the acquisition of MWH Treatment, Centara, CR Civil Engineering Ltd, the Enviresearch group and E.D.P. Health, Safety and Environment Consultants Ltd (EDP).

National Grid

The power infrastructure asset owner has bought Western Power Distribution, which operates across the southwest and Midlands, from US energy giant PPL Corporation for £7.8bn.

In a separate transaction, National Grid will also sell its US Rhode Island utility business – The Narragansett Electric Company – to PPL for £2.7bn.

National Express

National Express and Stagecoach have agreed a deal that will forge a £1.9bn transport operating group. The proposed merger is expected to be completed in late 2022, bringing Stagecoach’s UK local bus operations together with National Express’s intercity coach network.

Stantec

Stantec announced in December that it has completed the acquisition of the North America and Asia Pacific engineering and consulting group Cardno Limited.

AECOM

Announced in November the agreement to sell their Oil & Gas maintenance and turnaround services business to affiliates of Graham Construction. The deal is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2022.

Kier

Completed the sale of it’s Kier Living business to private equity investor Terra Firma in June. the newly acquired company to be rebranded as Tilia Homes.

Severfield

Have acquired fabricator DAM Structures Limited in a deal worth up to £27m. Severfield will initially pay £12m cash for the business with a further £7m payable in 2022 and a performance-based consideration of up to £8m over five-years.

Landsec

It was announced in November that Landsec is set to buy regeneration specialist U+I in a deal worth £190m.

Geoffrey Osborne

Have sold their Osborne Infrastructure business to private equity firm Sullivan Street for an undisclosed sum. The infrastructure business, which was established as a separate entity from its parent company in 2017, turned over £130.8m in the 12 months to 31 March 2020.

Alstom

Alstom announced that it has agreed to divest its Coradia Polyvalent platform, its Reichshoffen production site in France and its TALENT3 platform, currently developed in Hennigsdorf, Germany to the Spanish company CAF. This was one of the conditions from the European Commission of the clearance for the Alstom/Bombardier transaction.

Alstom now expects to close the transaction with Bombardier between April and September of 2022.

Egis

In February, Egis completed its acquisition of a majority shareholding in CPMS TOPCO and its operational arm, Collaborative Project Management Services Limited (CPMS).

SSE Contracting

The M&E contracting business of SSE Enterprise has been acquired by AURELIUS, which aims to grow the business off the back of increased public spending.

Tetra Tech

Have acquired leading UK M&E consultancy Hoare Lea. The purchase follows Tetra Tech’s acquisition of WYG two years ago.

KBR

In October, Babcock International Group completed the sale of its Frazer-Nash consultancy to KBR for £293m.

SWARCO

In a transaction closed in September, SWARCO AG acquired 100% of the shares in Dynniq Mobility.

Rhomberg Sersa Rail

Have acquired Balfour Beatty’s Track Solutions business in the US and rebranded it as Rhomberg Sersa North America.

Assystem

International transport, energy health and defence engineering group Assystem has acquired Schofield Lothian Ltd, a London-based company which has 80 consultants specialising in project management, commercial management, rail project consents & engagement, and environmental services.

And if you are looking to make any changes to your teams this year, please do get in touch to see how we could help you.