Atkins has 18,000 employees in the United States, Middle East, Asia and Europe, particularly in Britain and in Scandinavia, and specialises in design, engineering, project management, consultation, construction, and maintenance.

SNC-Lavalin, which will now have a total of over 50,000 employees, estimates that its annual revenues will reach $C 12bn. SNC believes that the deal will “increase its customer base, geographic reach and scale” to “capitalise on the infrastructure, rail, transit, nuclear and renewable markets.” The acquisition became effective on July 3.

SNC-Lavalin also expects to add approximately $C 3.5bn of consistent comparatively-high-margin revenue to its income from framework and master service agreements providing long term repeat business.

Teams from both organisations will work together to integrate both companies in order to create value for all stakeholders. The acquisition is expected to generate $C 120m in cost synergies ($C 30m from SNC Lavalin and $C 90m from Atkins) by the end of the first full financial year. This is expected to include eliminating corporate and listing costs, optimising corporate and back-office functions, as well as shared services, streamlining IT systems, and property consolidation where appropriate.

The acquisition price of £20.80 per Atkins share was financed using net proceeds from SNC’s announced $C 880m public bought deal offering of subscription receipts completed through a syndicate of underwriters, a $C 440m concurrent private placement of subscription receipts with Quebec-based institutional investor, Caisse, a $C 1.5bn loan from the Caisse, a £300m unsecured loan with a syndicate of North American banks as well as approximately £200m drawn under SNC’s existing syndicated credit facility.