French Bouygues Construction and Colas Rail, the rail subsidiary of Colas Group, have been chosen by Alpiq Group for the acquisition of Alpiq Engineering Services – a leading Swiss player in the energy, industrial services and rail infrastructure sectors. Clifford Chance advised Bouygues Construction on this acquisition with an enterprise value of CHF 850 million. The closing of the operation is scheduled for the second half of 2018, subject to the approval of the European and Swiss competition authorities.

The acquisition positions Bouygues Construction as a leading player in energy and services in Europe and will offer the opportunity for entering major new markets, particularly in Germany and Italy.

Operating through the companies Alpiq Intec AG (Switzerland) and Kraftanlagen München GmbH (Germany), Alpiq Engineering Services specialises in hard and soft services in construction and in energy, industrial and transport infrastructures. It employs around 7,650 people, and reported sales of approximately CHF 1.7 billion in 2017, chiefly generated in Switzerland, Germany and Italy.

Bouygues Construction is a global player in construction, with operations in more than 80 countries. It designs, builds and operates projects in the sectors of building, infrastructure and industry. In 2017 Bouygues Construction had 47,350 employees and generated sales of EUR 11.7 billion.

The Clifford Chance team comprised partners Dr. Thomas Krecek (Frankfurt) and Dr. Anselm Raddatz (Düsseldorf), associates Dr. Corinna Rogmann and Dr. Moritz Petersen (all Corporate/M&A, Frankfurt) as well as partner Marc Besen and associate Johannes Lüer (both Antitrust, Düsseldorf).

The Bouygues Construction inhouse team advising on the transaction comprised Jean-Marc Kiviatkowski, Ange-François Fantauzzi and Raphael Sidor.