KBR plans to acquire BE&K Inc

KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR), an American engineering and construction company, announced today that it would acquire Birmingham, Alabama-based engineering and construction firm BE&K for $550 million.

Photo: KBR plans to acquire BE&K Inc

No other information was provided.

The transaction is the next step in the company's growth, allowing the company to ooze into new markets.

KBR has already leased nearly 1 million square feet of additional office space outside of Houston.

KBR, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, was based in Houston. After Halliburton acquired Dresser Industries in 1998, Dresser's engineering subsidiary, the M. W. Kellogg Co., was merged with Halliburton's construction subsidiary, Brown & Root, to form Kellogg Brown & Root. KBR and its predecessors have won many contracts with the U.S. military during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as during World War II and the Vietnam War.

KBR is the largest non-union construction company in the United States.

BE&K, Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a global engineering and construction company. BE&K is named after its founders Peter Bolvig, William Edmonds, and Ted Kennedy and was founded in 1972 after the three men left the Birmingham based Rust International to start their own company. The company originally was focused on engineering and construction for the pulp and paper industry. Today BE&K has offices throughout the US and in Europe through BE&K International.