Seeking to bolster its presence in India, Canadian engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin has said it would acquire companies and is in talks with several players here.
Earlier, in September last year, the Canadian firm had acquired a Delhi-based engineering firm Span Consultants.
"We want to be the best general engineering company in India. (For this), we will be acquiring Indian companies to expand our presence in this market," SNC-Lavalin Senior Vice-President Robert G Blackburn told PTI in Mumbai.
The company is in talks with several players but has not set any time-frame for the acquisitions, he said.
As a part of its strategy to increase its footprint in the India, the company had acquired Span Consultants in September last year, which has given it an access to major centres such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata where Span has offices, Blackburn said.
In July 2007, the company had taken over Mumbai-based Pipecon Consultants, a pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical engineering entity which has a wide client-base in domestic and international markets.
"These acquisitions have enabled us to gain access to the rapidly-growing Indian market and thereby to firm up our presence in the region," Blackburn said.
{{/usCountry}}"These acquisitions have enabled us to gain access to the rapidly-growing Indian market and thereby to firm up our presence in the region," Blackburn said.
{{/usCountry}}The company has also significantly increased its headcount in the country in the past three years, which currently stands at around 1,100, he said.
Established in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a top player in the global engineering and construction space with operations in around 100 countries. It had posted a 48 per cent jump in its net income for the third quarter of 2007 at USD 63.2 million as against USD 42.7 million in the year-ago period.