COMPANIES (March 01, 2000)

Going global

In February, one of Canada’s two largest consulting engineering firms, AGRA Inc. announced it was merging with U.K.-based corporation AMEC. AGRA is now part of a global conglomerate that claims to be third largest engineering design firm in the world.

Amec describes itself as a “capital projects, services and investments group,” with affiliations with large companies in France (SPIE), the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Amec and AGRA together will generate revenues of $8.8 billion. The merger will enable them to provide full services from engineering to project delivery.

Peter Janson, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian firm, will be responsible for the company’s operations in America, with a headquarters in Toronto.

As an engineering design firm, the company will rank internationally second in size to Fluor Daniel and the Bechtel Group.

Klohn-Crippen divests

Vancouver-based UMA Group acquired the industrial division of Klohn-Crippen at the end of last year. The acquisition is the largest in UMA’s history and was done to give UMA an industrial engineering presence in Eastern Canada.

The division is known as UMA Industrial and based in Toronto. The group works under the leadership of Les Miko, P.Eng.

Meanwhile the Louis Berger Group of New Jersey has also acquired a substantial interest in Klohn-Crippen. The company will continue to operate under the Klohn-Crippen name. Louis Berger, which focuses largely on government infrastructure projects, is one of the largest consulting firms in the world but did not previously operate in Canada.