All-cash transaction is expected to complete in first quarter 2026
Making good on its stated commitment to continue expansion through acquisitions and enlarge its professional services position in the booming data center and power sector, WSP Global Inc., Montreal, is set to buy U.S.-based sector leader TRC Cos. Inc. from its private equity owner Warburg Pincus LLC with the financial backing of its largest shareholder.
The Canadian engineering giant announced late Dec. 15 it will pay $3.3 billion in cash for the Windsor, Conn.-based engineer-consultant, in a deal set to close in the first quarter of 2026, adding about 8,000 employees. The transaction is supported by longtime WSP investor Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, as well as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and JPMorgan Chase & Co., which committed to its debt financing, WSP said.
The purchase price is 14.5 times TRC’s adjusted net earnings for the financial year ended June 30, 2025, WSP said. The acquisirion is set to boost the company’s global workforce headcount to 27,000 with $7.2 billion in 2025 net revenue on a pro forma basis, it said..
The acquisition follows WSP’s purchase last year of Idaho-based engineering firm Power Engineers in a $1.78-billion deal that added 4,000 employees and a solid energy sector market share to its business.
Globally, power and energy “will now represent one-fifth of our platform, a sector with a double-digit organic growth track record,” WSP President and CEO Alexandre L’Heureux told analysts, adding that energy market work would represent 34% of its U.S. net revenue, with added capability in water, environment and transportation markets.
He said: “We are cementing WSP’s industry leadership in the … sector and becoming the largest and most diversified engineering and design firm [in the U.S.]”
TRC Cos. ranks at No. 17 on ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms list, reporting $1.47 billion in global 2024 revenue, with $27 million outside the U.S. and about 57% in the power sector, 21% in hazardous waste and 12% in transportation. TRC also ranks at No. 5 for Top 500 firms in the power sector and at No. 3 in transmission and distribution. WSP ranks at No. 4 on the Top 500, reporting $4.79 billion in global revenue, with about $186 million described as international, and 26% in power, 38% in transportation and 14% in buildings.
TRC Chairman and CEO Christopher P. Vincze, who has led the firm for nearly two decades, said his firm’s “innovative, technology-oriented power business, underscored by an advanced use of digital, will significantly strengthen” WSP’s power and energy work. “Our businesses are highly complimentary across capabilities, customers and geographies.”
‘Business as usual’
Vincze told employees that despite the firms’ different fiscal year schedules, with TRC’s current year ending on June 30, 2026, it will be “business as usual” with the firm generally continuing existing benefits and systems through the 2026 calendar year. Leadership also will be “business as usual,” with details of the integration and Vincze’s role ahead, if any, not confirmed. Any resulting changes from the deal will be “announced at a future date, if necessary,” he said.
TRC’s client base includes «many blue chip clients,» said L’Heureux, with half of its revenue derived from master services agreements. “TRC’s business is highly recurring and built on long-term relationships.” He cites “almost 60,000 projects delivered in 2025.” TRC will also introduce new energy efficiency services to WSP, L’Heureux said.
«WSP has underscored the critical role TRC plays in ensuring grid security, resilience and reliability and [its] leadership in digital and intelligent grid solutions, [and] innovation and efficiency in the design, delivery, operation and maintenance of electrical infrastructure,» says a TRC spokeswoman. «On the environment side, TRC will enhance WSP’s resilience advisory portfolio and add valuable depth in water resources, stormwater compliance, watershed planning and advanced water treatment, including PFAS.»
According to L’Heureux, the combined firms “will cover the entire utility and infrastructure value chain,” as well as “create potential cross-selling opportunities across power engineering, environmental solutions and advisory services.”
Despite shared clients among the top 20 U.S. investor-owned utilities and other power developers, L’Heureux said services will be “highly complementary” and would cover “every aspect of power generation, transmission, substation design and distribution.”
The deal is “a high-conviction move to dominate a fast-growing segment of North American infrastructure: the modernization and expansion of the power grid. WSP is effectively doubling down on the U.S. grid buildout—aiming to combine its scale with TRC’s utility relationships and program delivery experience,” said online financial publication TechStock2.
“Against that backdrop, WSP is essentially betting that the next decade of infrastructure is less about single megaprojects and more about multiyear portfolios of grid and environmental programs—work that rewards scale, specialized talent and the ability to manage complexity,” TechStock2 added.
L’Heureux said with the TRC deal and two smaller acquisitions this year, “we are committing over $5 billion in 2025 alone, the first year of our new strategic cycle,» adding that WSP has closed 20 acquisitions since 2021.
«The real work will be integration, particularly around power delivery and client ownership alongside POWER Engineers, but those are execution challenges rather than questions of fit,» said Mick Morrissey, partner in AEC sector business management consultant Morrissey-Goodale. «But TRC’s business is well-organized and will function easily as a ‘stand-alone’ operation serving its core markets, so any integration will be measured and focus on minimizing disruption to clients. Near-term risks are margin and cultural transition, not strategy. Longer term, this deal positions WSP to be a more influential player in how the energy transition actually gets delivered, and … sets the stage for more selective, higher-impact M&A ahead.»
