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Egis expands in Brazil with acquisition of Lenc

French engineering firm Egis has expanded further into the Brazilian infrastructure market with the purchase of highways contractor Lenc for an undisclosed sum. A statement from Egis said the acquisition is part of a strategy to expand aggressively in Brazil that it has been focusing on since 2011. Lenc, established in Sao Paulo in 1975, has 450 employees whose road building work ranges from preliminary studies and project management to work supervision and inspection. It also operates nearly 2,500km
November 28, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
French engineering firm 2643 Egis has expanded further into the Brazilian infrastructure market with the purchase of highways contractor Lenc for an undisclosed sum.

A statement from Egis said the acquisition is part of a strategy to expand aggressively in Brazil that it has been focusing on since 2011.

Lenc, established in Sao Paulo in 1975, has 450 employees whose road building work ranges from preliminary studies and project management to work supervision and inspection. It also operates nearly 2,500km of roads and runs a major materials testing laboratory as well several geotechnical surveying facilities. In the past decade, the company has expanded into environmental field work.

Lenc’s 2013 turnover reached nearly US50$ million (€40 million), generated entirely in Brazil. Its main clients are public sector contracting authorities in the transport field and privately-owned firms in the environmental sectors.

Lenc’s high-profile contracts include design and works supervision of sections of the controversial motorway Rodoanel Mario Covas – a 180km orbital around Sao Paulo costing several billions of dollars and still under construction. Lenc also has handled program management of improvement works on the 1,100km Tietê-Maranà waterway and impact studies for Petrobras’ offshore oil exploration activities.

Work on the orbital motorway Rodoanel Mario Covas has been split into four stretches and the west section opened in 2002l, as reported by 3260 World Highways in 20009. But other sections have suffered delays. The road was initially scheduled to be complete in time for Brazil to host the 1556 World Cup this year.

The Egis statement said the purchase of Lenc makes Egis a major engineering firm in Brazil, offering services in urban development, regional planning and multi-modal transport.

Egis already is operating in Brazil, with more than 300 employees. Egis Vega Engenharia e Consultoria is an urban transport, passenger rail transport and freight rail infrastructure engineering specialist, acquired in 2011. The subsidiary is conducting the engineering and interface management of the metro in the city of Salvador in Brazil’s Bahia state.

Egis Aeroservice Consultoria e Engenharia de Projeto, a specialist in airport consulting and engineering, was bought by Egis in 2012. In 2013, Aeroservice completed the master plan for the Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte airports. Egis Airport Operation do Brasil, founded in 2012, is a shareholder of the concessionary company of Campinas - Viracopos airport in northern São Paulo.

Egis, based Guyancourt, around 20km outside Paris, had a global turnover of just over $1 billion (€881 million) in 2013. It has around 12,000 employees in 100 countries and is 75% owned by the French long-term investment service Caisse des Dépôts and 25% by Iosis Partenaires, the name of the employee shareholding group.

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