UGL (company)
| Founded | 1970 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | , Australia |
Area served | Australia, New Zealand, Asia |
Key people | Jason Spears, Managing Director |
Number of employees | 7,850 (June 2016) |
| Parent | CIMIC Group |
| Website | www.ugllimited.com |
UGL, formerly known as United Group is an engineering company. The company provides construction, maintenance and asset management services to the rail, resources and infrastructure sectors and corporate real estate, facilities management and business process outsourcing services to property users. Its clients are large companies, governments and institutions in Australia, New Zealand, Asia. It was purchased by the CIMIC Group in December 2016.
History
UGL was founded as an engineering construction firm in Perth, Western Australia in 1970. In 1988 it was rebranded as the United Construction Group.[1] United Construction listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1994, changed its name to United Group Limited in 1997, and again in 2009 to UGL Limited. It was a member of the S&P/ASX100 Index.
UGL has acquired a number of businesses including engineering, construction and facilities management business Kilpatrick Green in 1998, rail company Goninan in 1999, corporate real estate business KFPW in 2002, Thames Water Projects Asia in 2004, Singaporean real estate services company Premas International (UGL Premas) and Alstom's Australian and New Zealand transport and rail businesses in 2005, Chicago-based Equis Corporation (UGL Equis) and Canberra based Peak Security in 2006 and Boston based Unicco Services Company (UGL Unicco) in 2007.[2]
In 2011, commercial real estate firm DTZ was acquired. It was sold in 2014 to a consortium of TPG Capital, PAG Asia Capital and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.[3]
In October 2016, CIMIC Group launched a takeover offer for the company.[4] This was successful with CIMIC applying in December 2016 to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares.[5]
Timeline
- 1994 - Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as United Construction
- 1997 - Changed company name to United Group Limited
- 1998 - Acquisition of Kilpatrick Green
- 1999 - Acquisition of Goninan[6]
- 2002 - Acquisition of KFPW from Knight Frank & PricewaterhouseCoopers[7]
- 2004 - Acquisition of Thames Water Projects Asia from Thames Water[8]
- 2005 - Acquisition of Alstom's Australian & New Zealand operations[9] and Premas
- 2006 - Acquisition of Equis, Fischer Industries, Goulburn Railway Workshops,[10] Peak Security and Steelplan
- 2007 - Acquisition of Proactive Communication Solutions and Unicco
- 2009 - Changed company name to UGL Limited
- 2011 - Acquisition of DTZ[11]
- 2014 - Disposal of DTZ[3]
- 2016 - Taken over by CIMIC Group
Safety
The USafe concept was developed internally in 2001 to unify the safety cultures of the various UGL business units. The USafe program emerged in the organisation in mid-2002 in conjunction with the re-branding of UGL at the time. The USafe concept was subsequently integrated in the UGL Safety Leadership program for line management. USafe is intended to develop behaviours that trigger people to consciously make a decision to work safely, reflecting the right work-safe attitude. USafe captures the idea that everyone within UGL thinks and acts responsibly to ensure safety at all times and symbolises the safety conscious way UGL people work. It applies to everyone within UGL. USafe is the visual identity of UGL’s safety culture, a culture that promotes safety responsibility for making safety happen by choice.
References
- ^ Timeline UGL
- ^ Our History UGL
- ^ a b DTZ becomes a private independent global property services company DTZ
- ^ unconditional offer for UGL CIMIC 10 October 2016
- ^ Compulsory Acquisition of Remaining Shares in UGL Limited CIMIC Group 19 December 2016
- ^ "United Group Buys Goninan from Howard Smith" Railway Digest October 1999 page 12
- ^ United Group expands services business with acquisition of KFPW United Group 27 August 2003
- ^ United Group strengthens presence in water sector with $15 million acquisition of Thames Water Projects Australia, Singapore & Malaysia United Group 15 June 2004
- ^ Alstom signs agreement with United Group for sale of Australian & New Zealand transport business Alstom 2 June 2005
- ^ UGL shuts up shop Goulburn Post 7 May 2010
- ^ Ruddick, Graham (6 December 2011). "DTZ sold to Australia's UGL". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 December 2011.