AtkinsRéalis facts for kids
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Trade name
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AtkinsRéalis |
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| Public | |
| Traded as | TSX: ATRL OTC Pink: SNCAF |
| Industry | Engineering, construction, airports, building services, electrical grids, environmental protection & remediation, hydroelectricity, manufacturing, metallurgy, mining, nuclear power, ports, rail transport, roads, water & wastewater |
| Founded | 1911 |
| Founder | Arthur Surveyer |
| Headquarters | 455 René-Lévesque Boulevard West Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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Key people
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| Products | Engineering services, project management, construction, construction management, procurement and operations and maintenance |
| Revenue |  CA$8.6 billion (2023) |
| CA$287.2 million (2023) |
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Number of employees
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37000 (2023) |
AtkinsRéalis is the trading name of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., a Canadian company based in Montreal that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and metallurgy, environment and water, infrastructure, and clean energy. AtkinsRéalis was the largest construction company, by revenue, in Canada, as of 2021[update].
The firm has approximately 37,000 employees worldwide, with offices in over 50 countries and operations in over 160 countries.
Contents
Key sectors
The company's key service sectors are buildings, defence, mining, electrical power, transportation, and water; each sector offers services that includes design, studies, consultancy, financing, asset management, engineering, construction, procurement and operations and maintenance. Operations include mass transit and heavy rail systems, highways, bridges, airports and marine facilities, as well as industrial, commercial, cultural and healthcare buildings. Mining and metallurgy sector offers services to green fields and brown fields projects of any sizes or complexity including "mining commodities, fertilizers, and sulphuric acid facilities". Its power sector provides services in environment and water, the transmission and distribution of energy, hydro power, nuclear power, renewables and thermal power generation, energy from waste, electrical power delivery systems", and "clean and sustainable power technologies".
History
SNC (1911–1991)
In 1911, Arthur Surveyer established a consulting engineering office, Arthur Surveyer & Cie., in Montréal after completing studies in Belgium and at the Polytechnique Montréal and working for several years with public works. Against the backdrop of the transformative advances in electrification. Surveyer worked on hydropower projects with his partner, Augustin Frigon (1888–1952), an engineer, professor, and Director at the Polytechnique Montréal where Surveyer had earned his degree. In 1912, they worked on a power distribution network for the city of Grand-Mère on Saint-Maurice River. The project that increased the company's profile was the Saint-Maurice River hydroelectric power station, which they designed and supervised. The company specialized in hydraulics, managing hydropower projects and flood control, and soon branched out into the industrial sector, particularly in pulp and paper, and mining and metallurgy.
Surveyer formed a first 10-year partnership with Emil Nenniger and Georges Chênevert in 1937. A second partnership agreement was signed in 1946, and the firm's name was changed to Surveyer, Nenniger and Chênevert. The name would eventually be abbreviated to SNC.
In 1967 Camille A. Dagenais OC, became president and CEO of SNC Group, a position he held until 1975. When Dagenais was inducted into the Order of Canada, he was honoured for his accomplishments at SNC—specifically for large-scale hydro development projects in Canada and internationally, for example, in India and Greece. One of the most important projects was the work he oversaw on the recently nationalized Hydro-Québec's Manic-5 project (1959–1970) on the Manicouagan River, north of Baie-Comeau. It was built for hydroelectric power production and supplies water to the Manic-5s power houses. The firm's first international contract was awarded in 1963, to design and build the 780 MW Idukki power station in Kerala State, India.
Lavalin (1936–1991)
SNC's main rival in Canada was Lalonde, Valois International Limited, a company that was established in 1936 by engineers Jean-Paul Lalonde and Romeo Valois. Bernard Lamarre, who would later become director and CEO in 1962 and lead Lavalin for 29 years, had married Louise Lalonde, Jean-Paul Lalonde's daughter in 1952, and began working at Lalonde, Valois International Limited. In 1972, the company changed its name to Lavalin—combining syllables from the original company name. In the 1970s, Lavalin designed and built the fabric roof for Montreal's Olympic Stadium and built the James Bay Project, in a partnership with the United-States-based Bechtel.
According to a 1986 Maclean's article by Anthony Wilson-Smith, Lavalin was Canada's "largest engineering firm, with $625 million in operating revenues in 1985 and 5,700 employees. SNC was the second largest". Wilson-Smith also said that they were "among the largest engineering firms in the world". Lavalin branched out in other industries, such as cable television—Canada's The Weather Network and MétéoMédia were founded by Lavalin in 1988. Lavalin's shares were sold to Pelmorex in 1993. By 1990 Lavalin Inc included over 70 companies worth CA$1.2 billion. It was forced to sell to its rival SNC in 1991.
SNC-Lavalin (1991–2023)
Bernard Lamarre remained with the newly formed company, SNC-Lavalin until 1999. He oversaw major projects including the TransCanada highway in Montreal, the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel, the Olympic Stadium in Montréal, and Alcan in the Ville de La Baie. He also oversaw projects in Benin and in Algeria.
Bernard Lamarre's younger brother, Jacques Lamarre, a civil engineer, became SNC-Lavalin's CEO in 1996 and left his post in 2009.
Acquisitions and partnerships
According to Ingram, SNC-Lavalin partnered with Bombardier in the 1990s to build transportation projects in Malaysia and Turkey. SNC-Lavalin acquired a 27% share in Ontario's Highway 407 toll road for $175 million. In 2011, SNC-Lavalin sold part of its share of Highway 407, at a significant profit.
In June 2011, SNC-Lavalin purchased the commercial reactor division of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) from the Government of Canada for CA$15 million. SNC-Lavalin established a subsidiary company named Candu Energy to market the design and supply of CANDU reactors.
On June 23, 2014, SNC-Lavalin acquired Irish engineering and construction business Kentz for approximately CA$2.1 billion (US$1.95 billion).
In 2017, SNC-Lavalin acquired its UK rival WS Atkins—a British design, engineering and project management consulting firm, for approximately CA$3.36 billion with $1.9-billion investment from the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
In late 2018, SNC-Lavalin agreed to form a joint venture with the Swedish-Swiss industrial giant ABB for the delivery of turnkey electrical substation projects. This new company, named Linxon, undertakes project design, engineering, procurement, and construction activities for a range of clients in the transport, utilities, and renewable electricity generation and transmission sectors.
In 2021 the company's oil & gas business, including the former Atkins and Kentz oil and gas businesses, was sold to Dubai-based Kentech Corporate Holdings. After the transaction was completed Kentech changed its name to Kent plc.
AtkinsRéalis (2023–)
On September 13, 2023, SNC-Lavalin announced it was rebranding to become AtkinsRéalis. President and CEO Ian Edwards said the new name combined the Atkins legacy brand and ‘Réalis, inspired by the city of Montréal and the company’s French-Canadian roots. The new name also evoked the word ‘realise’, as in ‘make happen’. The new name was used immediately on all communications materials and the Toronto Stock Exchange (new ticker symbol TSX: ATRL). The legal name switch requires shareholder approval at the company's 2024 annual general meeting.
SNC-Lavalin sold the Scandinavian businesses of Atkins to French engineering firm SYSTRA for $102 million in 2023.
Major domestic projects
In 1999, the Ontario government signed a $3.1 billion 99-year lease for Ontario Highway 407 with 407 International Inc., a conglomerate of three private companies, including SNC-Lavalin. It was renamed 407 ETR. In the early 2000s, SNC-Lavalin won the contract to repair Montreal's Jacques Cartier Bridge.
In 2002–2003 the firm completed a feasibility study of the Lac Doré Vanadium Deposit, in which they established the deposit as the largest vanadium deposit in North America.
In 2005 SNC-Lavalin in partnership with Brun-Way Group, won the $543.8-million contract to build the Brun-way project to twin Route 2, the New Brunswick portion of the Trans-Canada Highway from Woodstock, New Brunswick to Fredericton. The contract with the New Brunswick government was completed in 2007. . In June 2005, the BC Department of Transport selected SNC-Lavalin for a 30-year contract valued at $179 million to "design, build, finance and operate" the William R. Bennett Bridge in Kelowna, British Columbia. Construction which was completed in 2008.
In 2004, the firm was awarded the contract for Canada Line, an extension of the SkyTrain rapid-transit system in Vancouver; the project was completed in 2009, ahead of schedule.
The Goreway Power Station, an 869.8 megawatt gas-fired power generation facility in Brampton, Ontario, near Pearson Airport, constructed by way of an EPC agreement with SNC-Lavalin, began commercial operation in 2009, for Toyota Tsusho and Chubu Electric Power. The firm completed the construction of Ermine Power Station for SaskPower in Saskatchewan in 2009.
In 2010 the firm completed the construction of a $1.3 billion hospital at the McGill University Health Centre. (See discussion regarding controversy, below.)
The firm was awarded the 2015 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards for its work in structural and civil engineering for the Halifax Central Library project in which they created a "civic landmark and centrepiece for the Capital District".
In 2015, the Eglinton Crosstown (LRT) and Blue22 (airport rail link) projects in Toronto were awarded to SNC-Lavalin, who was one of only two bidders for the Crosstown line. Both lines have since been transferred to Metrolinx ownership. The Crosstown line is due to be completed in 2020, but has seen repeated delays and currently has no opening date, while Blue22 opened as Union Pearson Express in 2015. SNC-Lavalin is one of three main partners of the Rideau Transit Group, along with ACS Group and EllisDon Confederation Line, on a 12.5 kilometre rapid-transit line project in Ottawa with a 2.5 kilometre downtown subway tunnel as the centrepiece. The project, originally scheduled to be completed in 2018, is expected to be completed in Spring 2019.
International projects
In 1995, SNC-Lavalin won a large infrastructure contract to renovate and modernize hydro electric power stations with the Indian government.
In 2007, the firm won the $4.6-billion Ambatovy mine engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) management contract, the largest capital project in Madagascar's history. It was completed in 2010. The nickel and cobalt mining and preparation plant was completed in 2010. SNC-Lavalin sold its share for $600 million. There has been controversy about the mine's environmental and health impacts.
In December 2016, the firm won a BOO (build–own–operate) (BOO) contract from Crestwood Equity Partners valued at $100 million for multiple gas facilities in the Permian shale basin in the United States. In March 2016, it was awarded an $800M EPC management contract for a Middle East gas processing project.
Major investors
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is SNC-Lavalin's "long-term partner". According to an article by Pierre Fortin in L'actualité, Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund (the Caisse), which manages the Quebec Pension Plan and is the second largest pension fund in Canada, after the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), has increased its financing of Quebec enterprises from 2003 through 2013.
