AUSTRALIA: Ricardo plc has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire rolling stock life cycle management and technical services consultancy Transport Engineering Pty Ltd.
The deal announced on May 14 is expected to be completed by the end of June, with the company then operating under the Ricardo brand as the Australian division of Ricardo’s international rail business.
'Transport Engineering has an excellent market reputation, strong customer relationships and a very similar culture of quality and excellence in engineering to that of Ricardo', said Dave Shemmans, CEO of Ricardo. 'This acquisition is in line with our strategy of diversification both geographically and market sector, further increasing the proportion of our business in the rail sector. In light of the well documented current challenges in the automotive market where we have seen suppressed performance this year, our strategy and market diverse portfolio of businesses is particularly relevant.'
Transport Engineering is currently a privately-owned company and will continue to be led by Director Stephen Boyd. He said leveraging Ricardo’s scale and resources would enable the business 'to expand rapidly across Australia and New Zealand and broaden the range of technical services we currently offer.’
