Aecon
Aecon Group Inc. is a North American, construction and infrastructure development company with Canadian heritage. Aecon delivers integrated solutions to private and public-sector clients through its Construction segment in the Civil, Urban Transportation, Nuclear, Utility and Industrial sectors, and provides project development, financing, investment, management, and operations and maintenance services through its Concessions segment.
Aecon has been involved in the building of some of Canada's landmarks, including the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Seaway, Ontario Highway 407, Vancouver Skytrain, and the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport.
History
Aecon's history began in 1867, when Scottish immigrant Adam Clark started a plumbing and gas fitting business in Hamilton, Ontario. Aecon's predecessor companies include the Foundation Company of Canada, Jackson Lewis, Lockerbie and Hole, Banister Pipelines, Nicholls-Radtke, Pitts Engineering Construction, and Armbro Construction.As a group, Aecon's origins go back to 1957 to Prefac Concrete of Montreal, a company started by John M. Beck and his parents.
In 2010, Aecon acquired over 500 physical pieces of mining equipment and assets previously owned by Cow Harbour Construction, a large mining and land reclamation contractor located in Alberta's oil sands.
Chinese SOE takeover attempt
In October 2017, Aecon and CCCC International Holding Limited, the investment arm of the state-owned China Communications Construction Company, announced that they entered into a definitive agreement under which CCCCI would acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Aecon for $20.37 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $1.51 billion.In May 2018, the federal government of Canada blocked the sale, citing national security concerns.
Divestment of mining business
In November 2018, Aecon announced the closing of a definitive asset purchase agreement to sell substantially all of the assets related to its Contract Mining business to North American Construction Group for $199.1 million in cash.Operations
In 2013, Aecon reorganized its operating structure into three core segments.Aecon Infrastructure is responsible for the design and construction of large transportation projects, including airport terminals, highways, hydroelectric dams, subway tunnels and utility corridors. The Infrastructure segment represented 41% of 2012 Revenue.
Aecon Industrial covers a range of services to numerous projects, from new and existing mines to hydroelectric facilities, natural gas power plants, oil and gas facilities, cogeneration plants, and nuclear plants.
Aecon Concessions specializes in the development of domestic and international Public-Private Partnership projects as well as other infrastructure development projects requiring private finance. The Concessions segment represented 1% of 2012 Revenue.
In October 2024, Aecon Group buys United Engineers & Constructors for US$33 million in order to enhances North American nuclear capability.