Jacobs Solutions announced Jan. 5 that it has agreed to acquire the remaining stake in PA Consulting, completing a transaction that expands the firm’s advisory and transformation services alongside its traditional engineering and program management work.
The company said it entered into a definitive agreement to buy the outstanding interest in the London-based consultancy for approximately $1.6 billion (£1.216 billion). Jacobs first invested in PA Consulting in 2021 and already has a majority stake.
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PA Consulting provides management, technology and innovation consulting services in sectors that closely overlap with Jacobs’ core infrastructure markets, including transportation, energy, defense, healthcare and life sciences. His work focuses on early stage strategy, systems planning, digital transformation and operational improvement – services that influence how large capital programs are defined and structured before design and construction begin.
In his announcement, Jacobs said full ownership of PA Consulting will enable deeper integration of digital and advisory capabilities into its broader portfolio and accelerate the growth of higher-margin consulting services tied to complex infrastructure and technology-driven programs.
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“Full ownership of PA Consulting will further strengthen Jacobs’ capabilities in advisory, digital and transformational services,” said the company, which described the deal as aligned with its long-term strategy to support clients throughout the lifecycle of major programs.
Additional details disclosed in a Form 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission show that the acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings in the first 12 months after closing. Jacobs said it plans to finance the transaction through a combination of available cash and debt financing. Upon closing, PA Consulting will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Jacobs.
According to the filing, the transaction implies an enterprise value of approximately $4 billion (£3.05 billion) for PA Consulting, based on closing assumptions and expected adjustments. The filing also reveals about $99m (£75m) in deferred consideration, payable two years after closing and linked to Jacobs’ stock performance, a structure that keeps PA Consulting’s stakeholders financially aligned with Jacobs’ long-term operating results.
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Jacobs said the transaction will require national security approvals in the UK and Denmark, reflecting PA Consulting’s involvement in government, defense and other advisory work related to sensitive infrastructure.
In a Jan. 5 research note, Baird Equity Research said the PA Consulting transaction values about 13 times adjusted EBITDA, declining to about 12.3 times when expected cost synergies are included. The analyst said the deal’s incremental earnings impact will appear modest because of the accounting treatment, noting that Jacobs had already been consolidating most of PA Consulting’s results prior to full ownership.
Full ownership would have increased Jacobs’ adjusted margin modestly by about 60 basis points, based on fiscal 2025 results, reflecting the higher margin profile of the advisory work, the note said.
Jacobs did not announce any immediate changes to PA Consulting’s leadership or branding and said it would release additional information as the closing date approaches.
