Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services Group, has confirmed that it has agreed to buy Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), the employee-owned engineering firm in New York City, for $626 million.

In a letter to all employees sent by the CEO of Parsons Brinckerhoff, Keith Hawksworth, explained: "The combination [of Balfour Beatty] with PB creates an organisation with world-class capabilities in project development (including financing), design, management or delivery of construction services, and the operations and maintenance that can be provided through our combined local office- global footprint."


The two firms are highly complementary, with PB greatly assisting in expanding Balfour Beatty's vision in becoming a global integrated leader in infrastructure services through the addition of world-class professional services capabilities. Client service will be a prime focus of the combined organisation with no changes in project managers, technical staff and/or executive leadership with whom PB's clients work as a result of the acquisition.

Balfour Beatty Chief Executive Ian Tyler said in a taped message to PB employees: "Clients are absolutely the center of what we do....I'm very excited about bringing the two organisations together. Above all, though, I'm absolutely clear that we need to maintain the brand, the values, the culture, and the processes of Parsons Brinckerhoff as a complete entity."

(CD/GK)