WSP Group plc announced on Friday that it has acquired building services engineering consultants Flack + Kurtz Group, for $26.65 million (approx £17.76m)
With over 300 engineering and support personnel, Flack + Kurtz Group has its principal offices in New York, San Francisco, London and Hong Kong and recently opened offices in Paris and Seattle. The firm provides complete design and construction engineering services for building systems, including mechanical/electrical, life safety and information technology systems.
F+K reported pre-tax profits of $1.85m on worldwide turnover of $34.8m for the year to 31 December 1999. Combined net assets at that date amounted to approximately $5.6 million. Major projects include the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, currently the worlds' tallest building, the World Financial Centre in New York, Canary Wharf in London and the new Olympic stadium in Sydney, Australia.
Chris Cole, the Managing Director of WSP, said: "I am very pleased
that one of the world's premier building services consultants has joined
our Group. The acquisition of Flack + Kurtz, together with the recent
acquisition of the Cantor Seinuk Group, meets our planned international
growth strategy as well as being complementary to our existing businesses
in the UK."
WSP has also announced the launch of a new company, WSP Communications to procure, design, build and operate ‘cyber hotels’. The new venture has already won contracts to design and build 25 cyber hotels around Europe to host the growing number of people running web sites. It is also working for some of the ‘Big Five’ mobile phone companies.
"With a staff of more than 2,000 in the UK and 500 internationally, WSP is able to deliver all the property-related services required by these new companies. We will find a site for them, design it, build it, provide all necessary technical support and look after it," said Managing Director Peter Welch.
He said WSP Communications would be concentrating on internet web hosting base stations, switch sites, call centres, communications centres and help desks. It will provide prime contracting and facilities management as well as engineering consultancy. WSP FM, headed by Marilyn Standley, will provide the facilities management element of the package.
Mr. Welch added that the company was also "well advanced" in
developing a new lightweight plastic transmitter station for mobile phone
companies, which could open up an enormous new market for the company.
"The new generation of mobile phones needs another 40,000 transmitter
base stations, but because of their weight and critical location it’s
hard to find sufficient sites," he said. "Our new lightweight
structures will open up many more
potential sites, which would not have previously been suitable."
Richard Byatt
