After successively rising to the rank of world leader in the building, transportation and infrastructure sectors, the Montreal consulting engineering and professional services firm WSP aspires, according to its CEO, Alexandre L’Heureux, to become a world leader in the energy transition thanks to the acquisition of the American company POWER Engineers, which it has just concluded on 1is last October.
Posted at 1:11 a.m.
Updated at 6:00 a.m.
By acquiring the firm POWER Engineers, specialized in the transmission, distribution and production of energy, WSP has just given itself the means to achieve its ambition of becoming a key player on a global scale in this eminently promising sector. for engineering consultancy and professional services.
“It is a sector in strong expansion on a global scale. In North America alone, electrical transmission line networks are more than 25 years old, while transformers are more than 40 years old. We will have to change them.
“We already had a good presence in the energy sector and major projects in the pipeline, such as the Champlain Line to connect New York City, but here, we have just joined forces with a renowned firm with United States with its 800 partners and 5000 employees.
“They have unique expertise and we have an international network. We will make them shine globally,” anticipates Alexandre L’Heureux.
The CEO of WSP has been in discussions with the leaders of POWER for 10 years with a view to a possible merger; he has had talks with three different CEOs, but the latest discussions have borne fruit.
“It becomes our energy platform, our new center of excellence which already generates more than 1.5 billion, or nearly 15% of our total revenues,” underlines Alexandre L’Heureux.
The CEO of WSP already sees enormous opportunities to generate additional revenue with existing clients of the Montreal firm by adding electrical connection services.
“We do all the engineering for all of Microsoft’s data centers around the world. We were doing the envelope, the building and the engineering systems, but now we will be able to connect the transformers,” says the CEO.
Alexandre L’Heureux points out that Microsoft and Amazon alone spend 18 to 20 billion each quarter on the construction of new data centers, which represents a new data center every two days. They have high energy needs.
“We will also be able to get POWER to participate in our contracts in the hospital sector, in semiconductor factories, in the digitalization of highways, these are the activities which are at the heart of the energy transition”, insists the CEO of WSP .
A new strategic horizon
WSP is reaching the end of the cycle of the last three-year strategic plan which placed the energy transition as a priority objective to achieve, which has been done.
“We managed to increase our revenues by more than 50% in three years, we increased our EBITDA by 40% and our earnings per share by 30%. Today, the transport and infrastructure sector still accounts for 45% of our revenues, the environment and earth sciences, 25%, construction, 17% and energy, now more than 13%,” summarizes the CEO.
To finance the $2.4 billion transaction, the Montreal company issued $1.1 billion worth of new shares and warrants, an exercise to which the Caisse de dépôt subscribed by acquiring $158 million worth of additional shares from the firm. of engineering.
“This is the eighth time that the Caisse has participated in our financing rounds to make acquisitions. It is a leading partner who has always supported us in our desire to become a world-class player. The Caisse is by far our largest shareholder, at 16%,” explains Alexandre L’Heureux.
La Caisse was there in 2011 when Genivar ceased to be an income trust and completed the acquisition of WSP in England in June 2012, which allowed it to become a world leader in the construction and construction sector. to achieve the status of an international player, while adopting the name of this British company.
Since 2011, the annualized rate of return that the Caisse has recorded with its investments in WSP has been 24%, which has largely rewarded the risks that the institution took in betting on this company.
WSP, which today employs 80,000 people, was designated in 2020 by the magazine Engineering News-Recordthe industry benchmark, as the number one firm of the 225 largest international design firms, a first place that WSP has maintained for four years in this list of international firms.
In addition to the energy transition which will generate a good part of WSP’s growth over the next three years, the Montreal firm intends to intensify the development of its water sector – from water management to wastewater to water retention systems. floods for coastal cities.
“We will also be active in the development of advanced manufacturing with the construction of numerous semiconductor factories. The repatriation of production capacities in many countries around the world will also keep us busy,” predicts the CEO.
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