Amec gains its French foothold
15 Jan 2000
Amec is to team up with the management and employees of French electrical and construction specialist Spie Batignolles to buy the company. The move, first mooted late last year (PE Nov 1996, p9), could boost Amec's annual turnover to over £4bn.
Spie is currently owned by a holding company, Schneider. Initially, Amec's investment will support a management and employees buy-out, giving Amec a 40-48.6 per cent stake, depending on how much the Spie employees invest. Amec's input at this point will be FFr170m-300m (£20m-23m), with the Spie employees contributing at least FFr180m (£21m).
After six years, Amec will have the option of buying the employees' stake. This would make it Europe's sixth-largest contractor. The firms have already closed a cooperation agreement to tie together some of their `complementary activities'. These include power transmission, piling and pipeline-laying. `Between us, we will form a powerful Anglo-French axis in Europe,' comments Amec ceo Peter Mason.
