CONTRACTOR Bilfinger Berger Services has acquired engineering and construction company Clough Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary, Clough Engineering & Maintenance Pty Ltd (CEM).
The acquisition provides Bilfinger Berger Services access to the NSW and QLD power generation maintenance sector, providing a strong geographic presence in both states. It also strengthens Bilfinger Berger Services’ considerable industrial services business.
Bilfinger Berger Services has been contributing to the Power Industry for over 50 years in Australia.
The CEM acquisition enables Bilfinger Berger Services to offer a more comprehensive operations and maintenance solution to the power generation market across Australia.
Managing Director of Bilfinger Berger Services, Mark Elliott said the acquisition is part of a long standing strategy to expand the company’s industrial maintenance capability into the power generation market.
“This acquisition will expand our operations in the Queensland and NSW power market and provide CEM and its clients with access to our local and international expertise.”
“The power sector has been under invested for decades and Bilfinger Berger Services will be moving further into providing services to the power industry,” said Elliott.
Clough’s CEO John Smith added that over the last two years CEM has been successfully restructured and has secured both the renewal of existing multi-year service contracts and the acquisition of new clients.
“However, Clough is primarily focussing on the oil and gas sector, minerals and water infrastructure and CEM’s power station business was not an ideal fit with our strategic model,” he said.
CEM brings with it a number of blue chip clients and 150 highly skilled staff specializing in service delivery to the power generation sector.
All existing CEM personnel will transfer over to Bilfinger Berger Services.
The decision to acquire CEM was also based on the ‘cultural fit’ with Bilfinger Berger Services’ existing business.
“A business is its people, when we acquire a business our focus is therefore on ensuring we manage the human issues well. As a result of this approach, previous acquisitions have contributed significantly to our growth rate which is in excess of 50% over the last three years,” said Elliott.