Amec Agrees to Acquire Foster Wheeler for $3.2 Billion

Amec Plc, the second-biggest U.K. oil and gas engineer, agreed to buy U.S.-traded Foster Wheeler AG for $3.2 billion to expand foreign and fuel-product business.

The provisional deal will give Foster Wheeler investors $16 in cash and 0.9 of a new Amec share, equivalent to a total $32, for each share they hold, the London-based company said today in a statement. It will seek a U.S. listing after the purchase.

The transaction will boost capacity in the oil products and petrochemicals business at Amec, now mainly focused on helping companies get oil and gas out of the ground. Foster Wheeler has worldwide operations and has been working in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the 1970s, according to its website. Amec is valued at 3.2 billion pounds ($5.3 billion).
Amec advanced 2.4 percent, the biggest gain since Nov. 5, to 1,105 pence in London trading. Foster Wheeler climbed 1.1 percent to $31.78 as of 11:19 a.m. in New York.

The takeover will see Amec’s revenue in “growth regions” doubling. Profit will rise at least 10 percent in the first year and returns exceed the cost of capital in the second, it said.

Amec Foster Wheeler plc is a British multinational consultancy and project management with headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is focused on the oil and gas, minerals and metals, clean energy, environment and infrastructure markets.

The company was founded in 1982. It employs about 29000 people.
Foster Wheeler is a Swiss global engineering conglomerate with registered office in Baar.
The company was founded in 1927.