STRONGSVILLE, OH — Balfour Beatty, a British engineering and construction group has bought National Engineering and Contracting for $16.9 million, the companies announced.

Balfour Beatty PLC wants to spread its geographic coverage in the United States, Mike Welton, ceo, said about the deal.

National specializes in the construction of bridges, highways, and water treatment facilities. It is also involved in the construction of towers for the telecommunications industry and a regional structural steel erection business. It is based in Cleveland, OH, and operates principally in Ohio and West Virginia. Revenues in 2000 were $105 million and made operating profits of $3.9 million.

Balfour does about $1 billion of business in the United States and sees transportation infrastructure as a growing market, Welton said. Balfour considers National one of the “premier bridge building companies in the Midwest.”

Previously, National had been an employee-owned company.

Publication date: 09/17/2001