Underground Construction - October 2019 - 6

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OCTOBER 2019 | UConOnline.com

Quanta Acquires Hallen
Construction, 2 Specialty
Contractors
Quanta Services said it has completed the
acquisition of Plainview, N.Y.-based Hallen
Construction, a large gas utility contractor
serving key markets in the U.S. Northeast,
along with two Southeast specialty contractors for $330 million in cash and stock.
"Over the past several years, Hallen
has achieved solid organic revenue and
profit growth by leveraging its operational
excellence and working collaboratively with
its customers," Quanta said in an announcement of the transaction's closing.
Founded in 1927, Hallen has strong customer relationships with leading utilities in its
markets, Quanta said. It primarily provides gas
distribution and transmission services and,
along with a lesser focused on underground
electric distribution and transmission services.
The smaller acquisitions included
Prairieville, La.-based R.R. Cassidy Inc., which
specializes in pole-setting, and Marathon
Construction Services, a drilled shaft foundation company based in Tavares, Fla. Quanta
said it bought all three companies for about
$328 million in cash and $2 million in stock
but did not break down the cost of each
acquisition individually.
"We believe these acquisitions provide a
repeatable and sustainable earnings profile
that is complementary to our business and
consistent with our strategy," said Duke
Austin, Quanta's president and CEO.

Aqua Pennsylvania
Acquires Delaware County
Wastewater Assets
The municipal water authority for Delaware
County, Penn., has agreed to sell its wastewater assets to a subsidiary of publicly traded
water utility Aqua America for $276.5 million,
the company said.
The transaction between Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater and the Delaware County
Regional Water Quality Control Authority
(DELCORA) still must be approved by the
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The
deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions
by Bryn Mawr, Penn.-based Aqua, which
completed five municipal acquisitions in
Pennsylvania and Illinois last year and has

seven other water and wastewater agreements expected to close by 2020.
DELCORA assets included in the deal
include 168 miles of combined and separate
sewer mains, 14 miles of large-diameter
force mains, and a 50-million gallon-perday wastewater treatment plant that serves
the western part of its service territory.
It serves a population of approximately
500,000 people in 42 municipalities in
Southeast Pennsylvania, with an estimated
165,000 retail customers. Wastewater from
the eastern part of the territory is treated by
Philadelphia Water Department.
Prior to the agreement, DELCORA faced
substantial capital investment costs to comply
with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
mandates to resolve combined sewer overflow problems. The cost of these projects,
and other capital investments, is estimated to
be approximately $1.2 billion through 2041.
"Rather than stay the course and undertake significant projects that are expected to
have high costs and dramatically increase
customer rates, DELCORA decided to partner
with Aqua to address these challenges," said
Aqua President Marc Lucca.
Following closing, Aqua said, it will hire all
136 current DELCORA employees and honor
all of its union contracts.

U.S. Construction Spending
Rose a Slight 0.1%
U.S. construction spending ticked up just
0.1% in July, aided by government spending
on schools, sewers and the water supply.
The Commerce Department, which
released the data in September, found
that spending on construction projects
in July occurred at a seasonally adjusted
annual pace of $1.29 trillion. So far this
year, construction spending has tumbled
2.1%, dragged down by a sharp pullback in
expenditures for home building.
Construction for single-family houses
picked up 1.4% in July, a possible response to
lower mortgage rates. But private spending
on the building of apartments, lodging and
commercial spaces fell. Overall, private
construction spending slipped 0.1%
Government spending accounted for July's increase, as construction spending rose
0.4%. State and local governments accounted

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Underground Construction - October 2019

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