AtkinsRéalis sells stake in 407 highway, rounding off turn to pure-play engineering

MONTREAL — AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. announced the sale of its remaining stake in Ontario’s 407 toll highway operator in a $2.79-billion deal that caps off the company’s push to become a pure-play engineering firm.

The Montreal-based company said Thursday it had signed agreements with subsidiaries of Spanish multinational Ferrovial SE and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to sell off its current 6.76 per cent share of 407 International Inc.

The transaction follows one completed in 2019 that saw the company, then known as SNC-Lavalin, sell 10 per cent of its stake in the highway north of Toronto to a company controlled by CPPIB for a base price of $3 billion, plus an additional $250 million to be paid over 10 years, conditional on hitting certain financial targets.

The newly announced deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

AtkinsRéalis chief executive Ian Edwards called the sale a “key step in our strategic journey to simplify the business, create value for shareholders and become a focused, world-class engineering services and nuclear company.”

Proceeds from the transaction will go toward paying down debt, funding “small- and medium-sized acquisitions” and returning capital to shareholders, he said.

In its latest quarter, the company saw net income fall 42 per cent year-over-year to $52.4 million amid slimmer profit margins in Canada and the U.S.

Revenue for the quarter totalled $2.59 billion, up from $2.28 billion in the same quarter last year, it said.

On an adjusted basis, AtkinsRéalis said its professional services and project management business earned 26 cents per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of 45 cents per diluted share a year ago.

The company forecasted an organic revenue increase from engineering services of between seven and nine per cent this year.

Nuclear services would power much of the boost, with revenue from the fast-growing division predicted to hit between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion versus $1.49 billion last year.

AtkinsRéalis’ services backlog reached a record $17.2 billion as of Dec. 31, up from $13.7 billion a year earlier, due to demand for the company’s services and nuclear products, the company said.

Its lump-sum turnkey project backlog sat at $234.3 million, down from $364.6 million a year ago.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2025.

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