Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, July 7, 2017

Article Excerpt

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $56.74, Toronto symbol SNC, is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company. SNC has completed its acquisition of U.K.-based engineering firm WS Atkins plc. Atkins specializes in industrial projects such as railways, nuclear power plants, water-treatment facilities and highways. The purchase should cut SNC’s exposure to cyclical oil and gas clients. Before the purchase, those clients supplied 46% of its revenue. The company paid $3.6 billion for Atkins. That’s equal to 43% of its current market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares) of $8.4 billion. To help fund this purchase, SNC sold $880 million worth of common shares at $51.45 a share. The company also sold $400 million of common shares at the same price to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. It manages the province’s public pension plan and also lent SNC $1.5 billion. Eliminating overlapping operations should cut $120 million from the combined company’s annual costs by the end of the first year. That will help…