Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has reached a heads of agreement with STRABAG SE for the acquisition of the dredging activities and assets of STRABAG Wasserbau GmbH, formerly known as Möbius Wasserbau.
STRABAG Wasserbau, based in Hamburg, has an annual turnover of approximately EUR 50 million with a broad array of equipment and the agreed transaction price is EUR 70 million.
“ We have decided to sell our hydraulic engineering assets to Boskalis, which is capable of operating the business strategically. Within our group, these activities would be consigned to a niche area. We are especially pleased that Boskalis is also willing to further employ the 238 employees of STRABAG Wasserbau GmbH ,” said Thomas Birtel, CEO of STRABAG SE .
The transaction is limited to acquiring the equipment, personnel plus a couple of maintenance contracts. The most important assets are two shallow draft trailing suction hopper dredgers with a capacity of 7,350 m3 each, a large modern backhoe dredger and four self-propelled barges.
Through this acquisition, Boskalis strengthens its home market position in Germany. Furthermore, by acquiring the hopper dredgers, the requirement to renew part of the Boskalis dredging fleet in the 6,000 m3 to 9,000 m3 space will be fulfilled.
In view of this acquisition and the current market conditions, Boskalis will be taking a number of aging hoppers, cutters and backhoe dredgers out of service in the course of this year.
It is the intention to close the transaction in the first quarter 2016 subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.