ÅF Expands Outside of its Core Markets, but Still in the Nordics!
ÅF likes to present itself as a Nordic powerhouse, and indeed, it is the largest ER&D service vendor headquartered in the Nordics. That does not mean the company has saturated its home market: ÅF remains very much a Swedish firm that has developed its presence in Norway (USD 130m in revenues in 2017). However, ÅF’s third largest market is not a Nordic country but Switzerland (USD 98m)!
ÅF is little-present in Denmark and Finland. Thus, its two most recent acquisitions are symbolic of its Nordics growth ambitions. In the past month, ÅF acquired:
- An electrical power ER&D specialist, P.A.P headquartered in Copenhagen, and with a presence in Aalborg and Aarhus. P.A.P provides consulting, technical, and administrative engineering services around substations, transmissions, distribution, renewables, and heat & power. The company had SEK 60m in revenues (appr. USD 7m) and 46 FTEs. This is the second acquisition this of ÅF in Denmark after that of Gottlieb Paludan Architects in January 2018. Also, ÅF had acquired Midconsult in late 2016
- Earlier, in September, ÅF had acquired an industrial automation ER&D specialist, Profil-Bau Industrial, in Finland. Profil-Bau provides electrical, automation and mechanical design services. It had revenues of SEK 60m and has a headcount of 70 FTEs.
At this point, ÅF is most advanced in Denmark, where it has gained capabilities for its Infrastructure Division and now targets the current electricity investments in the Danish main grid system.
This is all the beginning, and ÅF will need to go beyond additional revenues of USD 7m in each of the two countries, to gain scale. And to say the least, there is potential for further acquisitions. ÅF has demonstrated it relentlessly deploys its M&A model, based on tuck-in acquisitions.