U.S. M&A up 2% with top design firms leading the way

Commentary & Insight

The 12-month rolling average of industry consolidation ticked up this week for the first time since deal-making froze over from March through June of last year. The action we are seeing in the market reinforces our prediction that 2021 will be the most active year for U.S. M&A activity on record. Watch out for our Q1 review and outlook for the rest of the year in next week’s M&A Update.

M&A Transactions

4/9/2021
Innovative engineering, planning, and environmental sciences firm Parametrix (Seattle, WA) (ENR #166) acquired Pacific Geomatic Services (Mukilteo, WA), a firm that specializes in bathymetry, land, environmental, and surveys for public and private clients in the Pacific Northwest. 
Link to details >

4/15/2021
Network Connex (Oak Brook, IL), a provider of mission critical network deployment solutions, acquired engineering and design firm Advantage Engineers (Columbia, MD) (ENR #385). The transaction marks the ninth ENR Top 500 design firm to sell or be recapitalized in 2021. 
Link to details >

4/12/2021
Industry leader POWER Engineers (Hailey, ID) (ENR #34) acquired Salient Power Engineering (Wheat Ridge, CO), an electric power system consulting firm focused in substation and power system studies, renewable energy, and heavy industrial markets. 
Link to details >

4/12/2021
Leading designer HED (Southfield, MI) (ENR #162) announced its merger with Pacific Cornerstone Architects (San Diego, CA), an architecture, interior design, and planning firm with expertise in the life sciences, higher education, and commercial markets. 
Link to details >

4/12/2021
GZA GeoEnvironmental (Norwood, MA) (ENR #110) acquired Ecosystem Consulting Service (Coventry, CT), a provider of nature-based water-quality management solutions for drinking water supplies and recreational lakes and ponds. 
Link to details >

4/12/2021
Fast-growing Universal Engineering Sciences (UES) (Orlando, FL) (ENR #175) acquired GEOServices (Knoxville, TN). This is the ninth investment made by UES over the past two years, as the company continues to expand in the South and West. 
Link to details >

4/8/2021
Industry icon Tetra Tech (Pasadena, CA) (ENR #4) acquired IBRA-RMAC Automation Systems (San Diego, CA), a firm that offers water systems instrumentation and digital transformation consulting services for water infrastructure. 
Link to details >

4/8/2021
Bolton & Menk (Mankato, MN) (ENR #155) acquired ColeJenest & Stone (Charlotte, NC), a provider of planning, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and urban design solutions. 
Link to details >

4/9/2021
LJA Engineering (Houston, TX) (ENR #65) acquired KDM Acquisition Services (The Woodlands, TX), a property acquisition firm specializing in right-of-way (ROW) services. The deal adds seven employees to LJA’s existing ROW team. 
Link to details >

4/15/2021
Alliance Technical Group (Decatur, AL) acquired the air testing and monitoring assets of O’Brien & Gere (Syracuse, NY), a division of ENR’s #10 ranked global design firm Ramboll Group (Copenhagen, Denmark). 
Link to details >

4/6/2021
In the firm’s second deal in as many weeks, Alliance Technical Group (Decatur, AL) acquired Emission Monitoring Service (Baytown, TX), a provider of leak detection and repair (“LDAR”) services. 
Link to details >

4/6/2021
OF NOTE: Multidisciplinary consulting firm Bowman Consulting Group (Reston, VA) (ENR #154) filed a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. 
Link to details >

4/13/2021
Environmental consulting and services firm RSK Group (Helsby, UK) acquired four businesses: Smith + Kennedy Architects (Dublin, Ireland), Orbital (Tattenhall, UK), The Scan Station (Helsby, UK), and SkyVision International (Frodsham, UK). 
Link to details >

4/13/2021
Global environmental and advisory consultancy SLR (Aylesbury, UK) acquired Corporate Citizenship (London, UK), a specialist ESG Advisory business. 
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4/9/2021
ENR’s #19 ranked global design firm, Sweco (Stockholm, Sweden), signed an agreement to acquire Linja Arkkitehdit Oy (Oulu, Finland), an architecture firm specialized in design of educational and business premises, as well as residential buildings. 
Link to details >

4/13/2021
ENR’s #10 ranked global design firm, Ramboll Group (Copenhagen, Denmark), acquired Incept Sustainability (Lyngby, Denmark), a small SaaS start-up company that provides sustainability e-learning and analytics. 
Link to details >

4/14/2021
ENR’s #33 ranked global design firm, Egis Group (Guyancourt, France), acquired Galson Sciences (Oakham, UK), an international consulting and research firm specialized in radioactive waste management and disposal. 
Link to details >