|
|
CEDAR RAPIDS
Firm’s purchase part of business growth strategy
Reporter: Tim Kenyon
tim@corridorbiznews.com
About two years of research paid off recently for the engineering firm of Howard R. Green Co.
That’s how long the Cedar Rapids-based company investigated possible deals in the southwest before recently purchasing Houston-based Sparks-Barlow-Barnett Inc., President Rick White said last week.
“The deal expands future Southwest opportunities,” Mr. White said.
It’s not the first step in the region for the company. Howard R. Green has previously worked with private-sector customers in the Houston area and continues a consulting relationship with the city of Houston.
Adding the 10 staff members from Sparks-Barlow-Barnett to the 230 in place at Howard R. Green will be a key piece to the company’s long-term strategy of increasing business in the region.
“The area’s overloaded with work. Texas has been a hot market for a long time,” Mr. White said.
He said the deal will benefit both ends as they can share solutions to new construction methods and designs.
Sparks-Barlow-Barnett was founded in 1977 to provide specialized civil engineering services to both government and private clients. The staff has long-term expertise in transportation, water/wastewater treatment and conveyance, flood control and drainage, project management and land planning/development.
Howard R. Green, founded in 1913 in Cedar Rapids, provides planning, technical consulting, architectural, engineering and environmental services.
The two combined will offer clients more resources, Mr. White said.
Terry Boles, a University of Iowa associate professor of management and organizations, said broadening resources to a mutual advantage is the usual goal of mergers and acquisitions.
The southwest regional engineering project boom is the result of more infrastructure needs from an increased population and rebuilding from several hurricanes, Mr. White said.
He said his company looked at acquiring larger companies in Texas, but liked the talent at Sparks-Barlow-Barnett. Additionally, as deal discussions advanced, the relationships developed and the rapport was comfortable.
“The biggest objective in an acquisition is to make sure the process develops trust,” Mr. White said.
Distance can be a challenge when the two companies are far apart.
“We made lot of trips down there and they came up here. It’s tough when you’re separated 1,000-plus miles to do much over the phone,” he said. “But, again, building that trust gets you through the ups and downs of the acquisition process.”
He found that they shared the same primary corporate value – delivering quality customer service, he said.
The advantages of joining a bigger firm excited Ed Barlow, now a vice president of the merged company.
“Our expanded capabilities in water/wastewater, environmental, buildings and transportation complement our staff’s knowledge of the local market,” Mr. Barlow said in a news release in announcing the deal. “Even more important, our firm’s focus on client needs matches perfectly with that of the Howard R. Green team.”
Mr. White said an integration team is training the new Houston employees to become more accustomed to policies and practices of Howard R. Green.
In addition, he said, “We have an individual assigned as a bridge and as they have needs, he hooks them up.”
It is possible staff may be reassigned from Cedar Rapids to Houston, he noted.
“Meanwhile, we will continue our monthly updates with internal webinars to all Howard R. Green offices,” he said.
This is just the start of Howard R. Green’s plan to expand beyond previous established locations in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota.
“Yes, we will continue to look for new opportunities to expand in new geographic areas that are the right move for us, good for the other company’s employees and stockholders,” Mr. White said. “We want to make sure we make wise business decisions.”
Besides the southwest, he said the company is studying expansion possibilities in the southeast, the northwest and Chicago area.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but we want to be more involved and grow to be a national firm,” Mr. White said.
Companies with the ability to grow with existing services they offer combined with a big regional demand for infrastructure expertise are major factors in Howard R. Green’s expansion desires, he said. CBJ
 Send To Friend
|
|
|
|