Low-profile TIC Holdings Inc., a Steamboat Springs-based contractor, is finding its stature rising after a merger this week with construction giant Kiewit Corp.
The combination generated an industry buzz by creating one of the nation’s largest contracting firms, with combined 2008 revenue of more than $9 billion.
TIC will continue to operate under its existing name and will serve as a “stand-alone company within the Kiewit organization,” with no significant management changes, said officials of Omaha-based Kiewit.
Kiewit’s acquisition of TIC strengthens both companies while still allowing Colorado the bragging rights of hosting TIC’s headquarters, said Mark Latimer, president and chief executive of the Associated Builders and Contractors Rocky Mountain chapter.
“They’re both good, strong companies,” he said. “It sounds like they’ll both operate pretty much as they have been.”
Latimer said he foresees no problems arising from Kiewit’s status as a union contractor and TIC’s nonunion workforce because the firms will not merge employees.
Gary Bennett, corporate relations manager of TIC, said the merger “is a very good fit.” The deal produces “added capabilities, opportunities and strength in the market in the years ahead,” he said.
Trade publication Engineering News-Record’s ranking of the nation’s top 400 contractors lists Kiewit at No. 5 and TIC at No. 28, based on 2007 revenues.
Even in its home state of Colorado, TIC is little-known outside construction circles, despite the firm’s $2 billion-plus in annual revenue and 8,000 employees. About 200 of them work at the Steamboat Springs headquarters.
The company specializes in power, mining, wastewater and other heavy industrial projects.
TIC’s Colorado portfolio includes construction of natural- gas-fired generators at Fort St. Vrain, a former nuclear power plant in Platteville; and a major cement plant in Pueblo. The firm operates across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico.
Kiewit has been active in Colorado for decades. Among its highest-profile projects was the $1.7 billion T-REX expansion of Interstate 25. Kiewit will serve as the general contractor of the proposed $478 million redevelopment of Denver’s Union Station.
Kiewit and TIC have collaborated on several projects, including construction of pollution-control equipment at PacifiCorp’s Dave Johnston Power Plant near Glenrock, Wyo.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
