UK-based Turner and Townsend, a global project and cost management consultancy, is scouting for acquisitions in India. It also wants to partner with leading domestic companies to tap the potential in infrastructure development.
Currently associated with over 5,000 infrastructure projects in various parts of the world, the $405-million consultancy wishes to scale up operations here, Tim Wray, chairman, and Vincent Clancy, chief executive, told Business Standard.
“We are present in India for the last 18 months and have a strategic alliance with a domestic firm to outsource manpower and assist in local projects. Going forward, we will try to acquire suitable companies to scale up operations and will enter into project-specific business alliances,” said Clancy.
Among the projects in hand is a cost and project management consultancy for development of Cairn India’s oil wells in Rajasthan. It is also advising a joint venture of the JSW group in Karnataka to set up a steel fabrication facility. And working with companies such as Siemens and Bharti Airtel on different projects, said Duncan Stone, managing director, Asia.
In these 18 months, the company has implemented five major projects in India for global clients. These include setting up of a Rs 100-crore corporate office for Deutsche Bank in Mumbai, back-office management facilities for Barclays Capital, knowledge processing offices of Credit Suisse in Mumbai and a Rs 5,600-crore hydro electric power project being developed by Munich Re in Himachal Pradesh.
The company expects Asia, which is expected to witness 20-25 per cent annual growth in infrastructure development, to contribute about half of its revenues in the coming years, from the current share of 15 per cent. India, according to a report by RREEF Research, is expected to see investment of more than $450 billion by 2012. These robust projections have made the company look for partners here in sectors like energy, airports, roads and retail on a project to project basis.