ACS Combines Flatiron, Dragados Into Single Engineering and Construction Company
Flatiron and Dragados are already in a joint venture for the $1.2-billion Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, shown in an April progress photo.
Photo courtesy of the Harbor Bridge Project
ACS Group says it is integrating its North American civil engineering and construction businesses by combining Dragados with Flatiron Construction into a single operation. In announcing the combination July 30, Madrid-based ACS said that Flatiron-Dragados would become the second-largest civil engineering firm in the U.S.
“The operation aims to simplify the group’s structure of the civil engineering activity in North America, facilitate the relationship with different stakeholders and promote administrative and financial synergies,” ACS stated.
There had already been close links between the companies. ACS owns Dragados and is also the majority owner of Hochtief, the Essen, Germany-based contracting company that owns Turner Construction.
Flatiron and Dragados have also been joint venture partners and are currently the prime contractor for the Harbor Bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Construction Package 2-3 of the California High Speed Rail project.
ACS and Hochtief stated that they had agreed to terms under which ACS Group would own 61.8% and Hochtief 38.2% of Flatiron-Dragados.
Broomfield, Colo.-based Flatiron and New York City-based Dragados had a combined $6.4 billion in 2023 revenue and ranked 49 and 37, respectively, on the ENR Top 400 Contractors.
The newly formed entity will be led by Dragados CEO Javier Sevilla. Peter Davoren, CEO of Turner, will be the new company’s chairman.
A spokesman for Turner said that Davoren will also remain CEO, president and chairman of Turner Construction Co.
Turner 2024 Operating Results
Separately, ACS reported results for the first half of 2024 of $450 million in net after-tax profit, up 8.1% over the prior year first half, on $20.2 billion in sales, due to solid performance, “especially Turner in North America.”
ACS further reported that Turner had first half sales of $9.35 billion, up 13.5% from the prior year first half, and pre-tax profit of $267 million, up 38.5%.
Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR’s business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR’s commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard’s freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.
