Boise, Idaho – URS Corp., a design-and-engineering company, agreed to buy rival Washington Group International Inc. for about $2.6 billion to expand its business managing nuclear-power and infrastructure projects.
Investors will receive $80, or $43.80 in cash and 0.772 of a share of URS stock, for each Washington share owned, the companies said Monday in a statement. That’s a 14 percent premium to Washington Group’s closing price of $69.97 on May 25.
URS is buying Washington Group to win more business designing and overseeing the construction of power plants and other industrial facilities. The combined company will be one of the five biggest providers of technical services to the U.S. Defense Department.
The purchase “positions us strategically in markets we think have very aggressive long-term growth profiles,” said Martin Koffel, CEO of URS.
URS and Washington Group plan to cut up to $55 million in costs through their merger.
