WSP Global Inc. is a Canadian company with American and British roots, providing management and consultancy services to the built and natural environment. It is listed on the
Toronto Stock Exchange. After the purchase of New York-headquartered professional services firm
Parsons Brinckerhoff in October 2014, WSP Global effectively became one of the largest professional services firms in the world, with approximately 47,000
employees in 500 offices serving in 40 countries.
History
Origins of WSP
''Williams Sale Partnership'' was established in 1969 in England by Chris Cole and three other partners.
In 1976, it was a founding member of the Building Services Research and Information Association (
BSRIA). It was first listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
in 1987.
In the 1990s, the company expanded at home and overseas forming ''WSP Asia'' in 1995, incorporating ''
T P O'Sullivan and Partners'' in 1997, acquiring
US practices ''Cantor Seinuk'' and ''Flack + Kurtz'' in 2000, as well as buying ''Jacobson & Widmark'' (J&W) in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
in 2001 (J&W was founded in 1938), ''LT Consultants Oyj'' and ''EMP Projects Oyj'' in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
in 2003 and, ''PHB Group'' in the
UAE in 2005.
Genivar
After acquiring three firms and geographical expansion in 1993, the name of the Canadian firm GBGM was changed to
Genivar Inc.
In August 2011, Genivar Inc. and Montreal-based architectural firm
ARCOP
Arcop (also ARCOP) was an architectural firm based in Montreal, renowned for designing many major projects in Canada including Place Bonaventure, Place Ville-Marie and Maison Alcan. The firm was originally formed as a partnership under the name A ...
announced an alliance.
Takeover
On 7 June 2012, Genivar made a
friendly takeover cash offer of
£278 million (
C$442 million) for WSP Group plc, headquartered in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. The offer was backed by WSP's
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...
as well as investors holding 37% of the company's shares and the take over was completed on 1 August 2012.
This merger created a professional-services firm with approximately 15,000 employees, working in over 300 offices worldwide.
The company reorganised its corporate structure on 1 January 2014, to create a parent company named WSP Global Inc. and adopted the common brand of WSP.
Subsequent acquisitions
In October 2014, WSP Global completed the purchase of New York-headquartered professional services firm
Parsons Brinckerhoff from
Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works acr ...
for USD$1.24 billion. The company has a network of approximately 170 offices and nearly 13,500 employees on five continents and became a wholly owned independent subsidiary. Together, WSP , Parsons Brinckerhoff is one of the largest professional services firms in the world with approximately 32,000 employees in 500 offices serving 39 countries.
In early 2015, WSP Global announced plans to expand to 45,000 employees by 2020.
In October 2016, WSP purchased Mouchel Consulting from the
Kier Group for approximately £75 million.
In January 2017, WSP , Parsons Brinckerhoff announced that it would assume the name "WSP USA", effective from May 2017. In August 2017, WSP made a takeover bid for
Opus International Consultants.
In July 2018, WSP announced its intention to buy Berger Group Holdings Inc., parent of the group of companies operating under the name of
Louis Berger Group
Louis Berger (formerly known as Berger Group Holdings) is a full-service engineering, architecture, planning, environmental, program and construction management and economic development firm based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 1953 in H ...
, a Morristown, N.J.-based international professional-services firm, for $400 million.
In February 2020, WSP acquired US-based environmental consulting firm LT Environmental (LTE). On December 3, 2020, WSP acquired Canadian-based geotechnical, earth-science, and environmental consulting firm
Golder for $1.14 billion.
On June 1, 2022, WSP announced an agreement of sale with
Wood Group plc for the Environment & Infrastructure group (E&I) part of its business. The £1.6 bn acquisition was concluded in September 2022.
In August 2022, WSP Global made an unsuccessful takeover offer to purchase
RPS Group
RPS Group plc () is a global professional services firm of consultants and service providers, headquartered in Abingdon-on-Thames, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and it became a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index on 11 Novembe ...
for £591 million. In September 2022, RPS received a counter takeover offer from
Tetra Tech
Tetra Tech, Inc. is an American consulting and engineering services firm based in Pasadena, California. The company provides consulting, engineering, program management, and construction management services in the areas of water, environment, inf ...
for £636 million with WSP opting not to increase its bid. RPS' shareholders voted to accept the Tetra Tech offer in November 2022.
In December 2022, WSP announced plans to acquire a 700-strong Swiss engineering firm, BG Consulting Engineers, based in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
with offices in France, Portugal and Italy.
Projects
WSP projects include:
*
22 Bishopsgate, London, UK
*
56 Leonard Street
56 Leonard Street (known colloquially as the Jenga Building or Jenga Tower ) is an , 57-story skyscraper on Leonard Street in the neighborhood of Tribeca in Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by the Swiss architecture firm Her ...
, New York City, US
*
Old Oak Common railway station, London, UK
*
Perth Arena
Perth Arena (known commercially as ) is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainment ...
, Perth, Australia
*
Jerusalem Light Rail, Jerusalem, Israel and Occupied Palestine
References
External links
Official site
{{Authority control
Consulting firms established in 1959
Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Companies based in Montreal
Business services companies of the United Kingdom
Construction and civil engineering companies of Canada
Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom
Engineering companies of the United Kingdom
International management consulting firms
Management consulting firms of Canada
Engineering consulting firms
Canadian brands
1959 establishments in Quebec
British companies established in 1959
Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1959
Canadian companies established in 1959