By Ashley Karen
Systra, the French engineering and consultancy group, has obtained Atkins’ Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian corporations, containing their geotechnical teams.
It was declared in early July that Canadian group SNC-Lavalin – which has since been rebranded as Atkins Réalis – had approved to sell the Scandinavian engineering businesses of its subsidiary Atkins to Systra for £80M.
The Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian entities, which specialize in infrastructure design and project management consultancy, have currently been incorporated to assist with intensifying Systra’s presence in the region.
This deal comprises 770 staff members working across 12 offices in the three countries, with several geotechnical engineers based in Denmark and Sweden. They will be entering Systra’s current 300-strong group in Scandinavia.
As Systra claimed, this strategic reinforcement will encourage it to respond to the significant projects carried out in these countries more effectively and to deliver its clients a more exhaustive range of services.
Pierre Verzat, Systra CEO, stated: “These acquisitions are in line with our growth strategy in Europe and strongly confirm our presence in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, where governments are investing massively in transport infrastructure, particularly railways. Together, we will be able to contribute to major sustainable mobility and resilient infrastructure projects in the region.”
The Systra Group has been attending in the Nordic countries for over 10 years. It has been incorporated in projects such as the Copenhagen automatic metro since 2007; the electrification of the entire Danish rail network since 2013; the Ostlänken high-speed line since 2015; the Follo-Line high-speed line tunnel since 2018, the Vestfold Nykirke – Barkåker line since 2019; the automation of the S-STOG suburban trains since 2021; the Uppsala tramway since 2021; the Greenland bridge since 2021; and the Kolmården since 2023.
The Montréal-based SNC-Lavalin group, jointly with its UK subsidiaries Atkins and Faithful Gould, has been rebranded as Atkins Réalis since the announcement.
In addition, Systra recently acquired two specialist tunnel design and construction companies, Spanish Subterra and Australian Bamser.
