Bird announces plans to purchase Jacob Bros for $135M

Key Takeaways:

• Bird Construction plans to acquire privately-owned, B.C.-based civil infrastructure contractor Jacob Bros for $135 million.
• Jacob Bros has a workforce of over 350 salaried, hourly and craft personnel. For full year 2024, Jacob Bros is expected to generate approximately $300 million of revenue and $37 million of Adjusted EBITDA. 
• Jacob Bros’ two shareholders, Scott Jacob, CEO and Todd Jacob, COO, will join Bird to lead the combination of Bird’s Western Infrastructure business and their existing business. 

The Whole Story:

Bird Construction has announced plans to acquire B.C.-based civil infrastructure contractor Jacob Bros for $135 million. 

The transaction, pending relevant regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed early in the third quarter of 2024. 

Headquartered in Surrey, B.C., Jacob Bros is a privately-owned civil infrastructure construction business with self-perform capability, serving public and private clients across the region with a workforce of over 350 salaried, hourly and craft personnel. Jacob Bros’ two shareholders, Scott Jacob, CEO and Todd Jacob, COO, will join Bird to lead the combination of Bird’s Western Infrastructure business and their existing business. 

“Today is a momentous day for Jacob Bros as we become part of the Bird Construction team – one of Canada’s oldest and most respected brands in the construction industry,” stated Scott Jacob, president and CEO of Jacob Bros. “Bird shares many of our core values and our cultural attributes, and will be a great fit for our people and our clients. With access to Bird’s resources, we will be able to build on our success and accelerate our growth and capacity as one of Western Canada’s most respected builders of public and private infrastructure”.  

Jacob Bros specializes in civil infrastructure construction across a wide array of projects, such as airports, seaports, rail, bridges and structures, earthworks, energy projects, and utilities. Additionally, Jacob Bros delivers expertise in specialized projects that require innovative, purpose-built, custom solutions that leverage their suite of comprehensive services.  

“We are really pleased that Scott and Todd Jacob will be bringing their comprehensive experience to the Bird team. The acquisition of Jacob Bros, a full-service infrastructure provider in BC, represents a significant milestone in the evolution of our business, establishing a broader and more diversified operation. The company brings a strong market reputation, highly skilled team, and proven track record for delivering complex projects to sophisticated, long-term clients,” stated Teri McKibbon, president and CEO of Bird. “The combined company will have a greater platform from which it will be able to access larger-scale projects and expand career opportunities for employees. The acquisition will enable Bird to advance our strategic focus on complex work in high-demand, higher-margin self-perform sectors, which we expect will contribute to continued margin enhancement.”   

Bird offered the following reasoning for the acquisition: 

• Aligns with M&A criteria: The acquisition supports Bird’s M&A strategy of targeting high-performing, culturally aligned, complementary businesses with strong cross-sell opportunities and developing a national civil infrastructure vertical. 
• Increases exposure to key secular tailwinds: Positions the combined company to capitalize on opportunities related to electrification, the growing demand for low-carbon and green infrastructure solutions, and transportation infrastructure requirements. 
• Adds civil infrastructure expertise: Jacob Bros augments the strong Bird team with a highly experienced leadership team and skilled workforce with the ability to execute civil infrastructure and special projects of varying size, complexity, and scope. 
• Enhances core Infrastructure vertical: Significantly increases revenue generated by Infrastructure projects, which advances Bird’s strategy to balance its portfolio across its three core verticals, Industrial, Buildings, and Infrastructure. 
• Expands scale and geographic reach: Together with other recent acquisitions in Ontario, Jacob Bros brings Bird closer to its goal of establishing a national full-service civil infrastructure footprint through the expansion of civil capabilities into the largest market in Western Canada.  
• Anticipated contribution to margin accretion: The combined company will leverage Jacob Bros’ capabilities in higher margin self-perform and special projects areas, in addition to its robust backlog with a diversified project mix and fleet of modern equipment to further pursue profitable growth. 

For full year 2024, Jacob Bros is expected to generate approximately $300 million of revenue and $37 million of Adjusted EBITDA. 

The Jacob brothers were raised in a construction family. The Jacob brothers established three individual careers within different sectors of the construction industry. In 2008, they decided to collaborate, combining years of experience and individual specializations into one multi-faceted firm—Jacob Bros Construction. Jacob Bros has grown rapidly over the past decade and recently expanded into a new office and maintenance facility that was designed and built by its own team.

One of Jacob Bros’ biggest projects in recent years was the Centerm Expansion Project in Vancouver. Their team was involved the design and construction of a container terminal expansion and improvements to surrounding port road infrastructure for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. The project was carried out by Centennial Expansion Partners, a joint venture that included Jacob Bros, Dragados Canada Inc., and Fraser River Pile and Dredge (GP) Inc.