M&A activity in the engineering and construction space has been driven in part by the desire to increase services and trades. General contractors have broadened their capabilities by acquiring specialty contractors but have also acquired design and consultancy firms as they look to offer a full-service value-added solution. A recent global example was Hill International, a global construction company, acquiring Cadogans, a U.K. engineering consultancy company, in November 2014.
The US is one of the top 10 most attractive national markets for investment in infrastructure, according to a recent report by engineering firm ARCADIS. But while the US needs to rehabilitate $3.6 trillion in existing infrastructure, government budgets are forecast to fund only about $2 trillion of this need by 2020, based on estimate by American Society of Civil Engineers. To fill the gap, investors and governments are exploring public-private partnerships (P3s) models that combine public money with private investment to fund needed infrastructure in engineering and construction.
Posted by Jeff Johnson.
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