Arcadis acquires IBI Group

Logos courtesy Arcadis and IBI Group.

Arcadis, an international consulting engineering firm headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, has entered an agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Toronto-headquartered IBI Group.

The agreement offers $19.50 per share, representing a premium of 30% on IBI’s share price as of July 15, 2022, and 40% on the 30-day volume-weighted average price, for an aggregate consideration of approximately $873 million. Annual cost synergies of $15 million per annum are expected to be fully realized within three years after the closing date. The transaction is unanimously supported by IBI’s board of directors and management partnership (its largest shareholder).

Arcadis currently employs 29,000 people across 70 countries, while IBI employs 3,500-plus at more than 60 offices around the world. The deal is intended to accelerate Arcadis’ ongoing ‘maximizing impact’ business strategy and establish a strong position in the Canadian market for planning, designing and building tomorrow’s resilient cities.

“Our shared vision to digitally transform our industries,” says Arcadis CEO Peter Oosterveer. “The acquisition will help accelerate this vision, leveraging Arcadis’ global platform and IBI’s strong track record by creating a fourth global business area (GBA), ‘intelligence,’ complementing the services and solutions we offer to clients through our three existing GBAs: resilience, places and mobility.”

“Bringing our talent and expertise together, we will establish the leading and most diverse architectural firm in North America and potentially the world,” says IBI CEO Scott Stewart.