TRC takeover tightens Canadian pension grip on long-term energy demand
Canada’s largest public pensions are quietly tying themselves even closer to the North American power grid.
WSP Global Inc. is buying US-based TRC Companies Inc. from Warburg Pincus LLC in an all-cash deal valued at US$3.3bn, a transaction that would make WSP the largest engineering and design firm in the United States by net revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Quebec’s public pension fund, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is backing the deal as WSP’s largest shareholder.
The company says the acquisition will lift its US power and energy segment to about 34 percent of American revenue, strengthening what chief executive Alexandre L’Heureux calls its position as “the undisputed leader in transmission and distribution in the United States,” as BNN Bloomberg reports.
As per the Financial Post, WSP plans to raise about $850m in equity, including $118m from La Caisse, which would own roughly 14 percent of the company.
BNN Bloomberg reports that the balance of the purchase would be funded by bond issuance and pre-arranged debt facilities.
Reuters said WSP expects the deal to be low- to mid-single-digit accretive to adjusted earnings per share before synergies and aims to close in the first quarter of 2026.
The company is targeting cost synergies of more than 3 percent of TRC’s roughly US$1.2bn in net revenue, and sees cross-selling potential across its US utility and energy clients, according to the Financial Post.
On balance sheet impact, WSP projects leverage of about 2.4 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA at closing, with a plan to bring that below two times within a year.
L’Heureux called that “a comfortable place to be” and said that “going higher than that would make me slightly uncomfortable,” as reported by the Financial Post.
The acquisition fits into a clear power-and-grid thesis.
L’Heureux told BNN Bloomberg that TRC is “a premier brand in the power and energy sector” and that, together with Power Engineers — which WSP bought for $2.4bn in October 2024 — the transaction anchors the firm in a “very high-growth area” driven by aging infrastructure and long-term electrification.
He noted that US transmission lines average 30 to 40 years in age and that both replacement and new grid buildouts in the US and Canada will be required, as BNN Bloomberg reports.
From a governance and history standpoint, WSP itself emerged when Montreal-based Genivar Inc. acquired London-based WSP in 2012 with support from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Caisse, the Financial Post said.
Genivar, then embroiled in a Quebec construction corruption scandal, rebranded as WSP in 2014 and has since settled the allegations.
Since 2021, WSP has closed 20 acquisitions to build what L’Heureux described to the Financial Post as “a more diversified and resilient platform”, including Power Engineers, which will adopt the WSP name on January 1.
TRC adds about 8,000 employees and has delivered 11–12 percent organic growth annually over the past four or five years, with Power Engineers showing similar growth, BNN Bloomberg reports.
Despite the size of the TRC deal, L’Heureux in the Financial Post said that “the answer is yes” when asked if WSP will keep doing sizable acquisitions, pointing to transportation, electrical power, water utilities and manufacturing as ongoing priorities.
