Houston company to buy Birmingham's BE&K

In a $550 million deal, global construction giant KBR announced it plans to buy Birmingham-based BE&K Inc., a privately held engineering, construction and maintenance services company.

Based in Houston, KBR said it has signed an agreement to proceed with plans to acquire 100 percent ownership of BE&K, including all its subsidiaries.

No further information was given in the press release as to whether BE&K will remain in Birmingham.

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KBR recently announced it leased nearly 1 million square feet of additional office space outside of Houston, in addition to its downtown corporate offices.

"This sale is the logical next step in the company's growth," said Mike Goodrich, chairman and CEO of BE&K, in a news release.

"This will bring both companies into new markets while growing those which BE&K already serves. Equally important, our cultures, values and the way we treat our employees, clients and communities are very similar."

Revenues for BE&K hit $2 billion in the last fiscal year, making it the largest construction company in Birmingham.

It has about 9,000 employees in 34 global offices, with more than 800 local employees in five offices.

BE&K was founded in 1972 an its subsidiaries include Allstates Technical Services LLC, NorthStar Communications Group, Rintekno, SW&B Construction Corp. and others.

KBR is a former subsidiary of Halliburton and employs more than 50,000 people worldwide. The company has built a prominent market position in the government and infrastructure sector of construction, according to its Web site.

It bills itself as the largest contractor for the U.S. Army and one of the largest for the U.S. Department of Defense.