Bureau Veritas Buys CKM to Deepen Construction Expertise and Expand Its Asian Presence
Bureau Veritas, one of the largest global testing, inspection and certification agencies, has bolstered its Singapore presence through the acquisition of a 70% stake in homegrown CKM Consultants Pte. Ltd.
The acquisition of CKM Consultants will enable the Euronext Paris-listed company to deepen itself into Singapore public sector construction projects as well as expand into private sector projects in the longer term. Bureau Veritas already has testing, inspection and certification expertise in the construction and infrastructure sectors globally.
Bureau Veritas has other core competencies in sectors like Marine, Oil & gas, Consumer products and Commodities.
The partnership is timely as CKM Consultants has just clinched a S$26 million contract to undertake comprehensive qualified person supervision (an industry term used to refer to an accredited service to conduct supervision) on four new stations on the upcoming Thomson Line (TSL). With connections to the North-South East-West Line, North East Line (NEL), Circle Line (CCL) and Downtown Line (DTL), the TSL is expected to open in phases from 2019.
“Bureau Veritas has a long and rich experience in helping clients in the construction industry to define their strategies, manage risk, monitor quality, improve performance and enhance their return on investment throughout the critical design, construction and transaction phases. This timely partnership with CKM Consultants will enable Bureau Veritas to bring some of the best global practices into our Singapore partner,” said Serge Antonini, Bureau Veritas’ Senior Vice President for Southeast Asia-Pacific.
“It is also an opportunity for Bureau Veritas to bring CKM’s expertise to overseas markets, especially in Southeast Asia,” he added.
Rakesh Kumar, Chief Executive of the company’s Industries and Facilities Division, said that the new relationship with CKM Consultants is a strategic alliance because of the immense experience and track record it has in Singapore public sector construction market. “Bureau Veritas is already a diversified player in the testing, inspection and certification and we see this alliance as a marriage of global expertise and local networks to jointly seek private sector projects in the construction sector.”
“CKM Consultants views the relationship with Bureau Veritas as part of its next phase of growth,” said Abishek Murthy, a founding Director of the Singapore company. “We have been around for 25 years and have done enormous amounts of civil and structural work for numerous public projects. We see this alliance with a global MNC as a gateway to pitch for private sector projects and as a catalyst to spread our wings into the region,” he said.
CKM was founded as a professional engineering services company in 1989 and has undertaken more than 150 projects with the likes of the Land Transport Authority, National Environment Agency, National Parks Board, Preservation of Monuments Board, among others.
Murthy said that the Singapore company has four core accredited offerings: Independent Design review and peer review; Periodic structural inspections; Structural investigation & feasibility studies; and Construction supervision.
In the past two decades, CKM Consultants has successfully completed more than 500 Accredited Checking/ Independent Design Reviews / Peer Reviews mainly in Singapore and in selected markets in Asia.
Murthy adds that CKM Consultants is one of the Singapore pioneers in the area of structural investigation and consultancy. “Full structural investigation is a specialization which few have, CKM being one of them. We are a pioneer of this kind of work when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) started their efforts to conserve buildings in the late 80s,” he added.
Bureau Veritas is a global leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has more than 64,000 employees in around 1,330 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries. The Singapore office, which functions as a regional headquarters for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, has 550 staff.
