Tag: acquistion

Surbana Jurong Group strengthens high-end urban capabilities with acquisition of Robert Bird Group

Singapore, 30 November 2017 – Surbana Jurong Private Limited (Surbana Jurong) announced today that it has entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of 100% interest of the Robert Bird Group (RBG). The acquisition is expected to be completed by early December, subject to certain conditions being fulfilled.

Established in 1982, RBG is a privately owned, global consulting engineering firm headquartered in Australia with offices in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Southeast Asia. It is renowned for delivering structural, civil and construction services on iconic complex projects, including London’s Westfield Shopping Centre, Dubai’s ICD Brookfield Place tower, and Sydney’s One Central Park tower and Darling Harbour Live development.

The acquisition of RBG will further deepen Surbana Jurong Group’s urban development capabilities and extend its geographical reach, filling the Group’s current market gaps and creating more synergies for its urban and infrastructure businesses.

This latest acquisition continues Surbana Jurong Group’s growth strategy, following its acquisition of Australia-based infrastructure consultancy SMEC Holdings Ltd last year. RBG augments the Group’s existing businesses, further strengthening its complete value-chain proposition for its clients.

“Surbana Jurong Group’s growth strategy is about deepening our core capabilities and extending our market reach, so that we create more exciting opportunities for all our people. I am excited to welcome the Robert Bird Group into the Surbana Jurong Group of companies as RBG will deepen Surbana Jurong’s core engineering capabilities, both in design and construction engineering. Such advanced engineering skill sets will strengthen our advantage in competing for and securing sophisticated and complex developments. The strong complementary fit between our businesses means we can immediately offer our clients a complete value-chain suite of services, not just in our key markets of Singapore and Australia, but now more than ever, in more markets globally,” said Wong Heang Fine, Group Chief Executive Officer, Surbana Jurong Private Limited.

He added, “Since its formation in mid 2015, Surbana Jurong Group has tripled in size, both in terms of talent base as well as in revenue. The Group’s growth has been both organic as well as through acquisitions and partnerships. Leveraging our partner companies’ strengths allows us to tap into key growth sectors. At the same time, it provides a platform to take our urban planning, coastal engineering, township and other capabilities global.  Today marks the next phase of our growth as we look to globalise and transform our business further.”

RBG founder and Chairman, Robert Bird, said, “This agreement represents the next stage of growth for the Robert Bird Group, with closer alignment to Surbana Jurong giving us the opportunity to access new projects around the world for a wider base of clients.  We also see this as being a natural fit given the synergies of our two businesses in terms of geography, competencies and clients. At the same time, joining the Surbana Jurong network gives the Robert Bird Group greater access to capital, greater resources and greater scale.  This will only heighten our ability in securing new national and international projects and will open the door to further growth for our firm across Asia and in Africa.”

Prior to joining the Surbana Jurong Group, RBG has worked successfully with Surbana Jurong in the past including on the Westin Hotel Darwin and the Queensland Government’s Logan Enhancement Project. The two companies are also partners in joint tenders.

About Surbana Jurong Private Limited

Surbana Jurong Private Limited (SJ) is one of the largest Asia-based urban, industrial and infrastructure consulting firms. Leveraging technology and creativity, SJ provides one-stop consultancy solutions across the entire value chain of the urbanisation, industrialisation and infrastructure domains.

Headquartered in Singapore, the SJ Group has a global workforce of 13,000 employees in 113 offices across 44 countries in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, and an annual turnover of around S$1.3 billion.

SJ has a track record of over 50 years, and has built more than a million homes in Singapore, crafted master plans for more than 30 countries and developed over 50 industrial parks globally.

SJ’s motto ‘Building Cities, Shaping Lives’ reflects its belief that development is more than just steel and concrete. SJ creates spaces and designs infrastructure where people live, work and play, shaping cities into homes with sustainable jobs where communities and businesses can flourish.

About Robert Bird Group

Robert Bird Group is a specialist consulting engineering firm with over 500 staff across more than 10 offices located around the globe.  Its vision is “the relentless pursuit of engineering excellence”; understanding clients’ needs, and being a critical part of delivering their visions, is what the Group strives to achieve every day.

It offers consulting engineering services across five disciplines within the built environment; Structural engineering; Civil engineering; Construction engineering; Geotechnical engineering (UK only); Digital engineering (BIM Management, 4D Visualisation, and Digital Design). These services are offered both as stand-alone disciplines, or packaged to suit any client’s individual needs, across most building and infrastructure sectors, including public and private projects of all types and sizes.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Surbana Jurong

Sharolyn Choy
Group Chief Communications & Branding Officer
T: +65 6248-1830  M: +65 9662-3409  E: Sharolyn.ChoyWF@surbanajurong.com

Robert Bird Group

Lilli Fender
Group Communications & Creativity Lead
T: +61 (07) 3319 2777  E: lilli.fender@robertbird.com

Appendix: RBG Projects

one central park sydney Surbana Jurong group acquires robert bird group
One Central Park Sydney

Arranged over six hectares, this development for Frasers Property Group, recently completed, is one of Sydney’s most prestigious urban residential address. The design emphasis was to create a green and sustainable urban environmental that integrates both private and public spaces and amenity. It features the tallest “green walls” in the world. The East tower (by Jean Nouvel) features a dramatic 42 metres cantilever with a ‘heliostat’ light reflection system supported by steel frames, to bounce light into the apartments and retail space beneath the cantilever. Robert Bird Group were responsible for all structural engineering within this project. The project has a Greenstar 5 building rating.

More info: http://www.robertbird.com/rbg-projects/one-central-park-sydney/

Westfield London sj acquires rbg
Westfield London

Located in West London, Westfield London sits on a 46-acre site, encompassing five anchor stores, over 280 speciality shops, 47 dining options, leisure facilities (including a multi-screen cinema complex) and parking for 4,500 vehicles. It is one of the largest retail developments in Europe, with 27 million shoppers using the complex in its opening year.

More info: http://www.robertbird.com/rbg-projects/westfield-london 

ICD Brookfield Place surbana jurong acquires robert bird group
ICD Brookfield Place

This building reflects ICD Brookfield’s commitment to creating ‘Best in Class’ developments in dynamic, vibrant global markets, providing intelligently planned work space adaptable to myriad occupancy styles. The singular and distinctive architecture is driven by a sophisticated consideration of form and function; a simplicity and elegance of expression and detailing, and a richness of materials. RBG collaborated with the project design team to create an efficient, elegant structural solution, which embodies the shared vision for the project.

More info: http://www.robertbird.com/rbg-projects/icd-brookfield-place

SJ acquires SMEC to be one of Asia’s largest consultancy powerhouses in urban & infrastructure developments

Surbana Jurong SMEC urban infrastructure developments
Celebrating Surbana Jurong’s 1st birthday

Singapore, 1 August 2016 – Singapore-based Surbana Jurong Private Limited (Surbana Jurong), one of Asia’s leading consultancies in urban developments, and Australian-based SMEC Holdings Limited (SMEC), an award-winning consultancy firm specialising in major infrastructure projects, today announced that they will be joining forces to establish a formidable global consultancy group with deep combined expertise in urban and infrastructure sectors.

Surbana Jurong’s 100% acquisition of SMEC for approximately S$400 million will significantly transform both companies. With Surbana Jurong and SMEC bringing complementary strengths to the table, the combined entity will have a global workforce of almost 10,000 employees in over 95 offices across 40 countries in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. The combined entity would be one of the largest urban and infrastructure consulting firms in Asia.

Liew Mun Leong surbana jurong

Liew Mun Leong, Chairman of Surbana Jurong said, “A large part of Asia and other emerging countries have to catch up with their deficit in urbanisation and infrastructure development in order to grow and support their economies. According to a report by PwC, infrastructure spending is expected to grow from US$4 trillion per year in 2012 to more than US$9 trillion per year in 2025 of which 60% will be in the Asia-Pacific market. In addition to financing and funding, wide and deep technical expertise in urbanisation and infrastructure development will be needed. Singapore and Australia have successfully done many major showcase national development projects through Surbana Jurong and SMEC. Besides their complementary strengths, both companies have very similar corporate cultures and core values. It will be timely and opportunistic for the synergetic merger of these two very competent organisations to share their expertise and capture the huge market opportunities. Going forward, Surbana Jurong / SMEC will be positioned as the largest development consultancy group based in the Asia Pacific region. On behalf of the board of directors and management, I wish to warmly welcome SMEC to the Surbana Jurong family.”

Wong Heang Fine

Wong Heang Fine, Group CEO of Surbana Jurong said: “Surbana Jurong and SMEC share complementary strengths and competencies as well as a rich and proud heritage of major iconic projects recognised around the world. SMEC’s experience and strength in major infrastructure projects in the urban transport, energy and water sectors such as hydroelectric power plants, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) & Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems, bridges and highways, coupled with Surbana Jurong’s track record and expertise in urban planning, township and industrial development, will enable us to offer unique complete value chain services in urban and infrastructure solutions to our clients globally.”

“As a company with a worldwide presence, global experience and expertise with local knowledge, we will be able to assist our clients to solve complex challenges in different markets. We will also be able to use our wide network of clients to find synergistic development and business opportunities across various sectors and geographies. Together, the company will be in a unique position to capture opportunities in the global market, and I believe this will put us on a path to accelerated growth,” added Wong.

SMEC was formed in 1949 to undertake a major integrated water and hydroelectric power project in New South Wales, Australia, called Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme, one of the largest and most complex hydroelectric schemes in the world. It was considered an engineering feat and recognised by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven civil engineering wonders of the modern world. The national project took 25 years to complete and included 16 major dams, seven power stations and one pumping station, over 225 km of tunnels and aqueducts and 2,000 km of roads.

Today, SMEC has a talent pool of almost 6,000 people working within a global network of over 75 offices across Asia, Africa, Australasia and North and South America. In 2016, SMEC has just been ranked 48 (2015: 51) amongst the top 225 International Design Firms and 69 (2015: 76) amongst the top 150 Global Design Firms.

Similar to SMEC, Surbana Jurong, a Singapore home grown technical organisation, played a pivotal role in nation-building and shaping Singapore’s public township and industrial landscape, before going on to achieve significant international success. The company played a leading role in shaping Singapore’s renowned urban landscape over the last 50 years. As part of its urbanisation model, Surbana Jurong provided the technical expertise to design over a million homes in Singapore and continues to be responsible for rejuvenating most of the public Housing & Development Board (HDB) townships, where over 80% of residents in Singapore dwell.

It is the technical consultant behind most of Singapore’s industrial developments, including the region’s leading petrochemical hub, Jurong Island. Surbana Jurong has a distinguished international track record, having developed masterplans for more than 30 countries and developed more than 50 industrial parks worldwide. Its township and urban planning model is well regarded throughout the world.

Andy Goodwin smec

Commenting on the partnership, Andy Goodwin, SMEC’s CEO and Managing Director, said: “We are delighted about this partnership with Surbana Jurong, an Asian powerhouse, who will further accelerate and support SMEC’s growth ambitions. This partnership is a reflection of the strategic value of our business and its potential to further deliver solutions internationally. It also signifies recognition of the professional skills at SMEC. The combined entity will not only benefit our clients, but importantly deliver enhanced growth opportunities for our employees and our partners. We are confident that the synergies between SMEC’s progressive culture and Surbana Jurong’s established company values will result in a mutually beneficial partnership over the long term”.

About Surbana Jurong

Surbana Jurong is one of Asia’s consultancy powerhouses for urban and infrastructure developments.

We deliver total urban, infrastructure and engineering solutions to support sustainable social and economic growth for our clients and have a distinguished track record in shaping Singapore’s urban and industrial landscape over the last 50 years.

Our multi-disciplinary team of specialists provides one-stop complete value chain consultancy services harnessed through years of successfully completing a wide array of projects in more than 200 cities in over 50 countries worldwide. We have designed and completed more than a million homes in Singapore, completed masterplans for over 30 countries and developed more than 50 industrial parks around the world.

With over 600 international and local awards under our belt, we have what it takes to understand, anticipate and exceed our clients’ expectations. Today, Surbana Jurong employs over 4,000 employees from 40 nationalities in 26 offices across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Surbana Jurong is owned by Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings.

About SMEC

SMEC is a professional services company recognised around the world for providing high-quality consultancy services on major physical and social infrastructure projects.

SMEC has over 5,800 employees and an established network of more than 75 offices throughout Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. SMEC provides consultancy services for the lifecycle of a project, ranging from feasibility studies and detailed design, through to construction supervision and commissioning. SMEC services a broad range of industry sectors, ranging from transport and energy, to water and built environment.

Since its creation, SMEC has delivered thousands of impressive social and physical infrastructure projects in more than 100 countries. SMEC’s services generate economic wealth and provide essential services that contribute to national development in some of the world’s fastest growing economies.

For media queries, please contact:

Surbana Jurong

Alvin Hang 

Group Director, Corporate Communications

T: +65 9222 1010 | alvinhangwy@surbanajurong.com

SMEC

Geraldine Quinlan

General Manager, Strategy & Branding

T +61 3 9514 1707| geraldine.quinlan@smec.com

________________________________________________________________________________

In August 2016, Surbana Jurong Group acquired SMEC Group for its complementary engineering strengths, expertise, talent pool and long-standing history of projects both in Australia and internationally.  During the acquisition process, SMEC’s management advised Surbana Jurong Group that an investigation was underway into allegations of suspected instances of misconduct dating back to 2000, and provided Surbana Jurong Group with material relating to these allegations and to SMEC’s own independent investigation which Surbana Jurong Group and its external advisers carefully considered and evaluated.  Surbana Jurong Group management considered that similarities of its corporate values and culture and SMEC’s, supported by SMEC’s consistent focus on improving its corporate governance framework, created a solid and transparent platform for a successful partnership.

Surbana Jurong buys stakes in two firms amid African foray

Urban developer Surbana Jurong CITICC Africa Google X Flux Factory

The Straits Times, 12 November 2015

Urban developer Surbana Jurong has acquired stakes in two companies in a bid to further expand its presence in Africa, where demand is high for affordable housing. Click here to read more

(The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission)

 

Surbana Jurong Brand Launch

SURBANA JURONG EXPANDS PRESENCE IN AFRICA WITH CHINA’S CITIC CONSTRUCTION AND TAKES STAKE IN AN AMERICAN BUILDING DESIGN SOFTWARE COMPANY

urban solutions and master planning design urban solutions sustainable and building design capabilities

Stake in CITICC (Africa) Holding Limited paves way to potentially develop 30,000 affordable homes in Sub–Saharan Africa in next 5 years; Investment in FLUX Pte Ltd will grow Surbana Jurong’s sustainable & building design capabilities

Singapore, 11 November 2015 – Surbana Jurong Private Limited announced today that it has further expanded its international footprint by taking a stake in China’s CITICC (Africa) Holding Limited which would see it potentially developing 30,000 affordable homes in Africa in the next five years. It has also taken a stake in an American software company, a spinout from Google X, which builds collaborative cloud-based software tool used for building design, urban solutions and master planning, which will grow its sustainable and building design capabilities.

Surbana Jurong is investing in a 20% stake in CITICC (Africa) Holding Limited, a USD300 million investment platform set up between International Financing Company (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Chinese multinational construction and engineering company, CITIC Construction Co., Ltd. The consortium will partner with local housing developers and provide long-term capital to develop the homes over the next five years. Surbana Jurong will bring its complete value chain of multi-disciplinary design and engineering capabilities including city and township masterplanning to strengthen this investment platform’s value proposition.

Given the drive to greater productivity in the real estate industry, the investment of USD9.25 million in FLUX Factory, Inc (FLUX) will help Surbana Jurong grow its sustainable and building design capabilities. Founded by 3 Google engineers in June 2012, the company builds collaborative cloud-based software tool leveraging on FLUX’s big data analytics solution and these are applied to building design, urban solutions and master planning.

Said Mr Wong Heang Fine, Group CEO of Surbana Jurong Private Limited: “The equity stakes in these two international entities is a continuation of our strategy to grow as a global firm that has solid presence in emerging markets while incorporating the most effective and efficient technology to augment our town planning and urban solutions capabilities. We have a strong presence in Africa, having done projects in nine African countries. With the stake in CITICC (Africa) Holding Limited, we will significantly increase our market access into Africa, particularly in affordable housing.”

IFC which set up its regional headquarters in Singapore in 2011, estimates that rapid urbanization is pushing up demand for housing in Sub-Saharan Africa. African cities become home to over 40,000 people every day, many of whom find themselves without a roof over their heads. Kenya’s housing shortage is estimated at 2 million units, while Nigeria is in want of 17 million units.

Sérgio Pimenta, IFC Director of Global Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services said, “CITICC (Africa) will help transform Africa’s housing markets by providing high quality, affordable homes, creating jobs, and demonstrating the viability of the sector to local developers. IFC will work with financial institutions to support mortgages and housing finance that will allow people to purchase the units. Having Surbana Jurong join as an equity partner and preferred service provider for engineering and design work will further strengthen the value of this partnership.”

“CITIC Construction will take advantage of our engineering experience and delivery capability to develop more affordable houses for Africa through the Platform.” Said Xu Mingguang, Assistant President of CITIC Construction and Director of CITICC (Africa) Holding Limited, “We hope to work closely with Surbana Jurong to leverage its strength and experience on the various consultancy work such as planning, design, development management.”

Sophisticated Software Technology in Building Industry
Surbana Jurong’s investment in FLUX is a strategic long term investment in technology that will strengthen its complete value chain service offering and grow its sustainable and building design capabilities.

Said Wong Heang Fine, “FLUX helps developers maximise the development potential of any site and at the same time helps the building industry design eco-friendly buildings. This is particularly relevant as there is growing demand for sustainable and green building designs which require sophisticated software like FLUX’s platform. We expect our investment in FLUX to put us in a strong competitive position to grow in emerging markets like China and Africa, and also share the sophisticated expertise in developed markets like Singapore where labour productivity is a growing and an on-going concern. FLUX software is expected to make significant reduction to costs, time and resources.”

Said FLUX CEO and Founder Nicholas Chim: “We are delighted that Surbana Jurong has taken equity in our company. The global Architecture, Engineering and Construction (“AEC”) software industry is estimated to be about USD 10 billion and will grow significantly between 8.5% to 10%p.a. over the mid to long term due to rapid urbanization worldwide. Surbana Jurong, Asia’s consultancy powerhouse for urbanisation and infrastructure developments, will help us enhance our product offering by providing real time user input on the needs of the development industry in sustainable and green building design. With its global footprint in some of the fastest developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America, their inputs will be invaluable in helping us design universally useable software for the market.”

About Surbana Jurong Private Limited
We deliver total urban, infrastructure and engineering solutions to support social and economic growth.

As Asia’s consultancy powerhouse for urbanization, industrial and infrastructure developments, we have a distinguished track record in shaping Singapore’s landscape over the last 50 years.

Our multi-disciplinary team of specialists provides industry-leading solutions harnessed through years of successfully completing a wide array of projects in over 51 countries across 207 cities. We have built more than a million homes in Singapore, completed masterplans for over 30 countries and developed 49 industrial parks around the world.
Surbana Jurong recently acquired two companies – KTP Consultants Pte Ltd in Singapore and Sino-Sun Architects & Engineers Co. Ltd in China. These two acquisitions will grow our staff strength by 25%, strengthen our infrastructure development capabilities and bring our market reach in China to 16 cities.

With over 600 international & local awards under our belt, we have what it takes to understand, anticipate and exceed our clients’ expectations. Today, Surbana Jurong employs over 4,000 employees from 40 nationalities in 26 offices across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

About CITIC Construction
CITIC Construction is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Limited . CITIC Limited is China’s biggest conglomerate and one of the largest companies on the Hang Seng Index (SEHK:00267). Its businesses include financial services, resources and energy, manufacturing, engineering contracting, real estate and infrastructure and others in China and overseas. CITIC Limited’s majority shareholder is CITIC Group in Beijing which ranks 186th of the Global FORTUNE 500 Firms(2015). For more information about CITIC Limited, please visit the company website at www.citic.com

Based on CITIC Limited’s full-service strength and international reputation, CITIC Construction has developed a “FOUR in One” business structure integrating engineering contracting, financing, resources and industries. CITIC Construction’s operation strategy is to win over engineering contracts with front-end services and financing solutions for clients, and prompt industrial development through engineering contracting work. CITIC Construction provides clients and local governments with a full package of comprehensive services throughout the whole project lifecycle. In 2015, CITIC Construction ranked 52nd among the ENR Top 250 international contractors. For more information, please visit www.cici.citic.com

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. Working with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, we use our capital, expertise, and influence, to create opportunity where it’s needed most. In FY15, our long-term investments in developing countries rose to nearly $18 billion, helping the private sector play an essential role in the global effort to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For more information, visit www.ifc.org

About FLUX
FLUX is a San Francisco based software company that is a spinout from Google X, a development lab by Google dedicated to making breakthrough technological advancements in areas including self-driving cars, Google Glass and drone deliveries

FLUX was founded by 3 Google engineers in June 2012. The company builds collaborative cloud-based software tools which are used for building design, urban solutions and master planning to help the building industry design eco-friendly buildings, leveraging on FLUX’s big data analytics solution. The computational and algorithmic programming technology of its software platform enables design configurators to generate automated design options based on rule and code base algorithms and hence allows for significant reduction of costs, time and resources.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Alvin Hang Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications

Tel.: 6248-1100 Mobile: 9222-1010 Email: Alvin.hangwy@surbanajurong.com