L.A. engineering giant Aecom acquires major stadium builder

Los Angeles architectural engineering firm Aecom Technology Corp. -- which has worked on sports stadiums for the Olympics, the World Cup and the NBA -- announced Tuesday that it had acquired Hunt Construction Group, a major stadium builder.

The announcement comes two weeks after Aecom announced a $6-billion deal to acquire rival engineering and construction giant URS Corp. of San Francisco, making Aecom the largest publicly traded company in the city of Los Angeles.

Hunt Construction Group is headquartered in Indianapolis and Scottsdale, Ariz., and has managed construction of major U.S. sports complexes such as the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., Marlins Park in Miami and Nationals Park in Washington.

"When you take our two combined skill sets and put them together, the two of us have helped create more than two-thirds of all the major league sports arenas in the country," said Michael S. Burke, Aecom's president chief executive.

Hunt also managed a round of recent renovations at Dodger Stadium.

Hunt is a private company, and terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hunt has more than 700 employees across the country and had revenue of more than $1.2 billion last year.

Burke said the acquisition of Hunt will allow Aecom to offer an entire package of services to clients -- from engineering and design to construction. Aecom specializes in the architectural engineering and design of major projects, whereas Hunt has expertise in the actual construction management.

Hunt has also largely done work in the United States, whereas Aecom generates about 60% of its business outside the country.

"Our global footprint of design capabilities allows us to take the Hunt construction capabilities and deliver that," Burke said.

For example, Aecom already is working on designs for stadiums in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, and Burke said Hunt's construction expertise would be a major benefit for such projects.

Hunt also has expertise in building airports and healthcare facilities -- two areas of increasing global demand.

"As our clients are expanding into emerging markets around the world, they want us to be able to deliver assets for them in faraway places," Burke said. "They don't want to have to go out and hire a new design and construction firm in every new country they go to."

Source: LA Times