Chinese construction firm CCCC buys Canada's Aecon for Can$1.51 bn

Chinese construction firm CCCC will acquire Canada's Aecon Group for Can$1.51 billion (US$1.18 billion), the Canadian company announced Thursday.

The deal is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

"We believe this is a very positive outcome for Aecon and our key stakeholders," Aecon chairman Brian Tobin said in a statement.

China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), one of the world's largest engineering and construction groups, agreed to pay Can$20.37 per share in cash for Aecon.

This represents a 42 percent premium on Aecon's share price in late August, when the company announced it was seeking potential suitors.

The purchase would be made through CCCC's overseas investment and financing arm CCCC International Holding Limited, also known as CCCI.

Aecon would continue to be led by its current management team and its headquarters will remain in Canada.

The takeover will give it access to "significant capital, complementary infrastructure expertise and an international network to support its growth ambitions," said CCCI president Lu Jianzhong.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a review of the purchase under the Investment Canada Act would look to ensure the deal is "in the best interest of Canadians" in terms of jobs and community impacts, "but also aligned with our concerns around security and safety."

Large-scale Chinese investment in Canada is a relatively recent phenomenon and remains small compared to US and other foreign sources.

Most of the buys over the past decade have been in the resource sector.

Chinese state-owned firms' recent acquisitions of Canadian technology firms Norsat and ITF Technologies, as well as a stake in a retirement home chain, raised eyebrows -- but were approved by Ottawa.

CCCC developed several ports and canals in China while Aecon helped build Toronto's iconic CN Tower and Vancouver's Sky Train.

CCCC previously acquired one of Australia's largest engineering and construction companies, John Holland Group, in 2015, and Texas-based offshore architecture and engineering firm Friede and Goldman in 2010.