In case you missed it

Two more big M&A deals have gone down this month...

HDR Architecture merged with CUH2A in a deal announced two weeks ago. The deal brings together one of the world's leading healthcare design firms (HDR Architecture) and the world's largest science and technology design firm (CUH2A), according to a press release announcing the merger.

The firm now employs nearly 1,700 architecture, engineering, and planning staff in more than 40 locations worldwide. The press release claims that the merger will allow each firm to fast forward its company's strategic development by at least 10 years.

According to the release, the merger should be finalized by the end of this month.

A point worth noting: HDR Architecture is an operating company within the larger HDR, Inc., with approximately 1,300 employees. The parent company, HDR, Inc., has about 7,000 people in more than 160 locations worldwide.

In the other deal, 22,000-person international engineering and project management company AMEC has agreed to acquire Geomatrix Consultants, Inc., for $85 million.

Geomatrix, a 500-person diversified technical consulting and engineering firm, has 18 offices in the United States and one in Canada. AMEC has offices in more than 30 countries around the world. Its shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. According to a press release announcing the deal, AMEC paid three-quarters of the purchase price ($63.75 million) at closing, with the balance to be paid over the next two years.

Regardless of the uneven economy, A/E firms continue to play the M&A game. Don't look for it to stop anytime soon.

Ed