Parsons, an engineering, procurement, project management and construction management service provider, has offices in 16 countries. The combined group would have 59 offices in 29 countries and a resource base of more than 9500 personnel offering a wide range of specialist skills to the rapidly expanding hydrocarbons and power sectors.

Worley said the acquisition would cement its position as one of the top five oil and gas engineering service providers in the world and provide good leverage for further growth.

“The consolidation in the oil and gas industry globally is driving projects of greater and greater scale and creating similar consolidation amongst service providers,” said chief executive officer John Grill said.

Grill said the acquisition price was 6.9 times Parsons' earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year ended December 31, 2003. The deal was expected to be earnings-per-share accretive in the first year.