The Danish consultancy giant COWI has revealed that it has acquired the British tunnel engineering specialist Donaldson Associates Limited in a deal worth an undisclosed hundred-million kroner amount.

COWI – which is based in Lyngby and specialises in engineering, environmental science and economics – wrote in its press release that the purchase was made in order to strengthen its tunnel and underground solutions worldwide.

"The acquisition of Donaldson Associates is a major achievement for COWI and is in line with our growth strategy,"  Lars-Peter Søbye, the CEO of COWI, said in the press release.

"We have complementary market coverage, and together we will be one of the world's largest consultants in tunnel and underground engineering, offering a vast, highly qualified pool of specialists who are able to bring significant strength and expert skills to our customers around the globe."

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Lucrative contracts on the line
With the acquisition of Donaldson Associates – which employs 143 staff at five UK offices and one Hong Kong office – COWI has become one of the top three largest tunnel consultants in the world.

The move is seen as strategic in terms of getting COWI in position to secure the lucrative contracts in play for the construction of the Femern Bridge connection to Germany, which is expected to be completed by 2021.

In securing Donaldson Associates, which had a turnover of nearly 110 million kroner last year, COWI has also boosted its goal of doubling its turnover between 2011 and 2016.