McClier Merged With 2 Austin Operations

By: Jim Rosenberg Los Angeles-based Aecom has announced that it formed a new operating company, Austin Aecom, which represents the merger of Aecom's Chicago-based McClier Corp. and the Southwest and Midwest regional operations of The Austin Co.

A merger of some kind with Austin has been anticipated for several months, and word of the arrangement began circulating more than a week ago.

Headquartered in Chicago, Austin Aecom is part of the Aecom Facilities Group, which employs 2,500 professionals in offices throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Austin Aecom offers design-build, architectural, engineering, and construction-management services for the life sciences and pharmaceutical, food, and consumer products, newspaper and media, industrial, distribution, commercial, and institutional, petrochemical quality testing and R&D, and aviation sectors. With $2 billion in sales and projects in more than 60 countries, Aecom offers professional technical services of 18,000 employees.

Ken Terpin, former head of McClier and president of the new company, said in a statement that "mutual advantage in serving our customers" drove the merger.

The Austin Co. said it will continue operating through offices in Cleveland, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Irvine, Calif., as well as its Ragnar Benson and Austin UK Subsidiaries. Austin and Aecom plan additional cooperative ventures in selected markets.

In the same announcement, Austin President Pat Flanagan called the merger "an exciting opportunity to work with Aecom in the future. While we are divesting a portion of our firm, we are gaining access to Aecom's worldwide network and we look forward to building upon this foundation."

Remaining unclear is the possibility that Austin's continuing operations may compete with the merged company for business with newspaper publishers and who from Austin will join Austin Aecom.

The telephone number for Austin's newspaper group is no longer in service and e-mails to executives there went unanswered. A call to Flanagan was routed to Sales and Marketing Vice President Mike Pierce, who did not respond to a voicemail message.