DRA has entered into an agreement to acquire Queensland-based G&S Engineering, as it looks to expand its footprint and project execution capabilities in Australia.

The conditional sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition has been signed with G&S’ owner Calibre Group.

DRA said: “The acquisition provides DRA with a significantly expanded footprint in Australia, specifically on the east coast where G&S Engineering has an extensive presence. It will also significantly extend DRA’s procurement, project management, construction, commissioning, and operations and maintenance capabilities in Australia, opening up new long-term opportunities, and providing increased scale to DRA’s Australian operations.”

G&S Engineering has extensive experience encompassing the entire project lifecycle from construction, through maintenance and optimisation to final decommissioning and deconstruction of a project. Its core services include:

• Maintenance and asset management services – providing maintenance, shutdown, optimisation and sustaining capital solutions for new and existing surface and underground fixed and mobile plant; and

• Construction – delivering both greenfield and brownfield capital projects for clients’ operational assets and infrastructure.

It has offices in MacKay, Brisbane and Perth and employs approximately 1,000 people across its three main divisions.

Greg McRostie, Managing Director of DRA for Asia Pacific, said the acquisition is very much in line with the company’s rapid growth strategy in the Asia Pacific region.

“Australia is a key market for DRA and this acquisition gives us a well-established maintenance and optimisation platform as well as a greater presence in the region, while broadening the scope of services we can offer our clients. The management team at G&S has a strong track record and relationships with a number of Australian resources companies, and we look forward to working with them and the broader G&S team as we grow our business.”

G&S has previously worked with Roy Hill on its iron ore mine in the Pilbara, and BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s Caval Ridge coal mine and Hay Point coal terminal (the latter pictured above), both in Queensland.

The sale and purchase is conditional on a number of conditions and, subject to satisfaction of those conditions, is expected to complete in late July 2018.