US infrastructure and services group AECOM is buying engineering firm URS Corp. for about $6 billion including debt, creating an industry leader, the companies said in a joint statement Sunday.
Los Angeles-based AECOM offered URS $56.31 per share, or about $4 billion for the San Francisco company, in addition to $2 billion in its debts, the companies said.
The merged company will have a presence in 150 countries and about 95,000 employees, the statement said. It would have calendar year 2013 pro forma sales topping $19 billion.
AECOM believes the tie-up could be more than 25 percent accretive to its cash earnings per share in fiscal year 2015, it added.
The merger, already approved by the two companies` boards, still must be approved by antitrust regulators possibly by October.