Transportation engineer Gannett Fleming says it will expand its infrastructure consulting footprint in this sector with the purchase of rival TranSystems from its private equity owner, the companies announced. The amount of the cash transaction was not disclosed, but the companies said their operations were combined will generate $1.3 billion in revenue entity with more than 5,000 employees.
As part of the completed deal announced Aug. 7, the companies said Gannett Fleming CEO Bob Scaer will become a director on the board of that company, under which the now-enlarged entity operates. TranSystems CEO Tim Rock and Gannett Fleming President and CFO Jim Nevada become co-presidents and co-chief operating officers of the combined company, with a search for a new CEO announced.
Camp Hill, Pa.-based Gannett Fleming ranks No. 29 on ENR’s Top 500 Design Companies list, with $775 million in design revenue by 2023, while Kansas City-based TranSystems ranks No. 58th place with revenue of $453.6 million. informed last year the first is a portfolio company of the New York City-based private equity firm OceanSound Partners, which acquired it in late 2022, and the latter had been owned by PE firm Sentinel Capital Partners, also based there. Sentinel had recapitalized TranSystems in 2021, without disclosing financial details.
At the time of ENR’s publication, details of an integration and rebranding plan for the company were not disclosed and could not be confirmed.
“With this transformative transaction, we remain committed to continuing to build a premier national infrastructure services company,” said Joe Benavides, chairman of Gannett Fleming and managing partner of OceanSound Partners.
“Ocean Sound is putting a lot of money into this. It’s aggressive,” said one AEC market expert. “This PE firm wasn’t even in the market three years ago.”
The transaction “strengthens our position in bridges, highways, construction services, transit and rail and program management,” Scaer said, adding that it was the”right time to move on to the next generation of leadership.”
Rock said the connection will expand services “in facilities, water and electrical engineering” as a more diversified operation.
