Press releases

The expectation is justified that Royal BAM NBM and Grupo Dragados will reach agreement on the acquisition of HBG by Royal BAM NBM. The proposed acquisition is unanimously supported by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of HBG. Royal BAM NBM intends to acquire all of the shares in HBG held by Grupo Dragados for €20.10 per share in cash, implying an equity value of €715 million for the whole of HBG.

The name Brooklands used to be synonymous with speed. Located in Weybridge, Surrey, just to the south-west of London, the world’s first car racing circuit was opened in 1907. The remains of the racetrack now form the backdrop to a prestige business park. And work on this kind of project can move at quite a pace, too, as HBG Construction is demonstrating.

Woodside Energy Ltd awarded a €10.5 million contract to Westham Dredging Company Ltd, in which Ballast Ham Dredging holds an interest of fifty percent for a shelf expansion project at the Australian coast.

Twenty years of planning and preparation and a referendum among the Swiss population preceded the project: the construction of a new rail link between Bern and Zurich. Today, however, the implementation of all the associated sub-projects is in full swing. The most spectacular part is the Oenzberg passage, where Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau is involved in the excavation work.

Construction work is now at an advanced stage on the site for the new 960-pupil John Hanson School in Andover. HBG Construction started work on the new school last June, with the aim of completing the whole complex by the start of the new term next September.

The construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link has been divided into a number of separate contracts by the client Union Railways. Either alone or as part of a consortium, Nuttall is involved in projects on four sections of the line.

Ascon, in joint venture with Spie Capag, was awarded the contract for the construction of a major section of the gas pipeline to the West. The signing of the contract on 20 March saw the commencement of this hugely significant infrastructural project in Ireland.

The flag of Ballast Ham Dredging, incorporating HAM and Ballast Nedam Baggeren, is already flying worldwide. More and more of the dredging giant's vessels are sporting the BHD logo as, for example, here in Hong Kong, where the trailing suction hopper dredger Amsterdam is discharging sand for the major Penny's Bay land reclamation project.

Delta Marine Consultants, the hydraulic engineering design office of HBG Civiel, took just three weeks to produce a draft design for a dam at the planned new harbour Yangshan Port, near Shanghai.

A new piece of the city in the city. That is what Amsterdam hopes to achieve with the Zuidas. In 2030 plans for the area along the southern part of the A10 ring road, with the Zuid/World Trade Center railway station at its heart, will provide additional housing to 12,000 people and extra working space to another 50,000 people. On behalf of Projectbureau Zuidas, Tebodin has drawn up a master plan for the energy and utility facilities.

Grupo Dragados and "la Caixa" bank agree to promote the third Eropean toll road operator by merging Áurea and Acesa
press release of Grupo Dragados

The new company would be the Spanish leader in transport and communications infrastructure management and Europe's third toll road operator after ASF and Autoestrade, while reinforcing its world leadership in the comprehensive management of transport infrastructures.

The new company's market capitalization would surpass 4,500 million euros, placing it among the stocks with the greatest capitalization on the IBEX 35 index.

Grupo Dragados and "la Caixa" bank will propose the merger of Áurea and Acesa to their Boards of Directors.  Áurea would be absorbed by Acesa and Acesa's name would be changed.

The swap has been set at 2.06 shares of Acesa for 1 share of Áurea.

This operation is not related to the takeover bid made by Acesa today for the control of Iberpistas.

Madrid, May 20, 2002. Grupo Dragados and "la Caixa" bank have agreed to promote and propose to the Boards of Directors of Áurea and Acesa, of which they are main shareholders, a project to merge the two companies.  The result would be the leading Spanish group in the field and one of the main European toll road operators, reinforcing their world leadership in integrated transport and communications infrastructures management.

Aggregate sales increase 8.4% in the quarter and net sales 9.2%.

The drop in concession activity in Argentina and the reduction of extraordinary gains in the Services Division have brought net profit down by 2.6%

Press release of Grupo Dragados
Madrid, May 10, 2002 - Grupo Dragados net profit in the first quarter of 2002 reached 39.4 million euros, 2.6% less than in the first quarter of 2001 and gross operating profit grew 6% in the same period to 50.2 million euros. Grupo Dragados maintains its expectations for the end of the year, since these results are in line with the company's prospects.

Edmund Nuttall Ltd has received a major safety and environmental award from client Kimberley Clarke for its outstanding safety record whilst constructing an effluent treatment plant in Barrow in Furness.

Ritchies, the geotechnical division of Nuttall, recently completed stabilisation of a 1.5 kilometre rock cutting on the M5 motorway in North Somerset. Ritchies work included removing more than 40,000 m2 of vegetation and 150 tonnes of bulk rock removal.

Ballast Ham Dredging has begun a dredging project in the Port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The navigation channel is being deepened and straightened to give larger ships access to the port.

Construction on the design-build project, the Thomas B. Manuel Bridge, began in December 2001 after seven months in the design phase. Misener Marine, part of HBG Constructors, was awarded the $25 million contract by the Florida Department of Transportation in March 2001.

Up to the end of May, HBG Schakel & Schrale will be working on Lange Voorhout Palace in The Hague. The restoration specialists are responsible for the placing of new wooden shutters in the back. These are part of a new climate-control system.

HBG Civiel Steel Structures has successfully completed the installation of a transformer module located off the Danish coast. The 1,000-tonne platform was lifted into place by the crane ship Asian Hercules.

Frankfurt-based energy utility Mainova is getting more than just a roof over its head. HBG’s group company Wayss & Freytag Schlüsselfertigbau is constructing an entirely new building in the city for the company. The industrial design of the building is perfectly in tune with its multifunctional character.

Nuttall has secured a contract valued at nearly 42.5 million euros to undertake coastal protection work for Scarborough Borough Council.

Rijswijk, the Netherlands - HBG, Hollandsche Beton Groep nv, announces that HBG and Grupo Dragados SA are working as keenly as ever to implement the merger of the two companies on the basis of the agreements and principles arrived at by them on 5 March of this year.

Interbeton is currently working on the construction of the reinforced concrete frame of two hotel wings and a car park in Abu Dhabi.

On formwork spanning several tracks of the Kijfhoek marshalling yard near Rotterdam, employees of the CBKK consortium are pouring a thousand cubic metres of concrete for a trough bridge. The bridge is part of the Vork Viaduct.

Madrid / Rijswijk – With reference to the advertisements dated 15 and 16 March 2002 and 12 April 2002 and the offer document dated 15 March 2002 [the 'Offer Document'] Grupo Dragados, S.A. ['Dragados'] and Hollandsche Beton Groep nv ['HBG'] jointly announce that the second acceptance period in the public offer by Dragados for all outstanding ordinary shares in HBG [the 'Offer'] has ended on 25 April 2002, 15.00 hours Dutch time.
Press release of Grupo Dragados and HBG
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