EBJ Business Achiever of the Week: Louis Berger Group

Hats off this week to Louis Berger Group (Morristown, NJ), winner of a 2013 Business Achievement Award for its acquisition of Spanish engineering firm Apia 21, a firm with principal expertise in structural engineering but also with significant capability in planning and environmental engineering. Louis Berger made this bold move at a time when the Spanish economy, along with the European economy generally, was struggling. When Apia 21 came on board in February 2013, it employed about 400 people, including 250 to 280 in Spain and another 120 distributed among offices in South America, Central America, the United States, and the Middle East, according to James Stamatis, president of Berger International. Strategically, the addition of Apia 21 was meant to support Louis Berger’s growing business in the Middle East and Africa. Apia 21 “understands how to work on the international market with international contractors, especially the Spanish contractors, who have a great presence globally,” Stamatis told EBJ. “They’ve been able to help us come in and do a lot of value-engineering throughout the Middle East,” and “they’ve been key components of some of our winning projects in the Middle East, the U.S., and South America.”
For a full list of EBJ’s 2013 Business Achievement Award winners, please visit https://ebionline.org/business-achievement-awards. EBJ will begin accepting nominations for 2013 Business Achievement Awards in October.

The next issue of EBJ will be our annual Industry Overview issue, in which we provide an update of the environmental laboratory sector, a report on trends in resource recycling, and a look at the current elevated level of activity in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Another upcoming issue of EBJ will review trends and drivers affecting contractors and other hard-asset service providers, providing coverage of the hazardous waste management, industrial services, and field service industry sectors.
Companies interested in contributing to any of this coverage—or simply interested in telling their stories of recent market success, for consideration as a company profile—should contact EBJ Senior Editor George Stubbs at geostubbs@comcast.net, or via phone at 781-665-0590.