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WSP will target expansion through acquisitions by leveraging the financial clout of its new Canadian parent company, following the proposed 拢278m takeover by Genivar announced this morning.

WSP chief executive Chris Cole, set to be executive chairman of the merged company, said the firm would primarily seek acquisition targets in the US and Australia.

Speaking exclusively to 好色先生TV, he said WSP would leverage Genivar鈥檚 market value to make further acquisitions. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be looking for acquisitions again because we have the firepower again,鈥� he said.

Despite being less than two-thirds the size of WSP in terms of staff numbers and turnover, the professional services firm had, as of yesterday, a market value of 拢516m, more than three times that of WSP, valued at just 拢166m.

He described the tie-up as a 鈥渦nique opportunity鈥� to merge with a consultant in a 鈥渧ery strong economy鈥�.

If completed the deal will see Genivar pay 拢278m to buy the entire issued share capital of WSP, with the combined group to be renamed WSP Genivar 鈥渁s soon as practical following completion of the merger.鈥� The deal will see the combined firm listed on the Toronto stock exchange, with current WSP chief executive Chris Cole given the role of executive chairman and current Genivar chief executive officer Pierre Shoiry keeping the chief executive role.

The existing executive directors of WSP Paul Dollin, Rikard Appelgren and Stuart McLachlan will remain in their roles.

Cole said Genivar acquired WSP for its global footprint and was committed to fuelling further expansion. He dismissed reports WSP鈥檚 shareholders had been pressuring for a sale.

Cole said: 鈥淚鈥檝e always believed in consolidation and we鈥檝e been waiting for the right deal. I鈥檝e been consistent.鈥�

Cole said the UK-based engineer 鈥渄idn鈥檛 open the door to anyone else鈥� and had been talking to Genivar about a deal for six months and seriously for three months.

WSP took the view that large scale expansion could only be achieved through a major M&A deal, Cole said.

He said: 鈥淲e looked at how long it would take in the current climate to expand [to this size after the Genivar deal] and it was potentially quite a long time.

鈥淲e looked at the economy in the corporate world 鈥� and the uncertainty in the Euro market 鈥� and we didn鈥檛 see that improving.鈥�

Cole said there were 鈥渧ery few [M&A] opportunities out there that would be so complementary鈥� as there was 鈥渘o geographical overlap whatsoever鈥� between WSP and Genivar.

WSP has 9,000 staff spread across 30 countries, whereas Genivar鈥檚 5,500 staff work primarily in its domestic Canadian market.

Cole said the strength of the Canadian market had made the deal 鈥渧ery attractive鈥� and added that WSP would be able to leverage the firm鈥檚 expertise 鈥� particularly in the booming oil and gas sectors 鈥� in other markets around the world.