Doosan Babcock is thus set to join the same French group that has previously acquired Cape Group, Actavo (formerly Deborah Services), Beaver 84, NSG and, most recently, RMD Kwikform from Interserve.
Crawley-based Doosan Babcock provides engineering services to the power and energy industries. Key clients include the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Sellafield. Latest accounts show revenue of £256m in 2020 and a pre-tax profit of £5.5m. It has 4,000 employees.
The transaction is expected to conclude by September.
Altrad chief executive for the UK, Ireland & Nordics, Padraig Somers, said: “We are delighted to welcome Doosan Babcock into the Altrad family. The acquisition represents an exciting opportunity to extend our portfolio of services and enter new markets, whilst enhancing the outcomes we deliver for our clients.”
Doosan Babcock chief executive Andy Colquhoun added: “We are extremely pleased to be joining Altrad and are confident our business will be well positioned to grow and develop at pace under the new ownership structure. We believe our collective capabilities and shared vision and values will be attractive to our clients, our people and the communities within which we work.”
The Altrad group was founded in Montpellier, France, by Mohed Altrad, who was born sometime around 1948 in a nomadic tribe in Syria, and orphaned at an early age. He start out by buying a failing scaffolding manufacturer for one franc and today owns a €2.7bn-turnover international group with 52,000 employees.
Altrad sponsors both the French rugby union national team and the All Blacks, and also owns Montpellier rugby club. In 2015 Mohed Altrad became the first Frenchman to win the World Entrepreneur of the Year award.
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