HanmiGlobal acquires TWG to cash in on US infrastructure boom

South Korean project management company HanmiGlobal said Wednesday it has acquired Tarr Whitman Group, a Seattle-based construction support consulting firm, to further expand its business to the US market.

TWG will operate as a business unit within Otak, another US subsidiary of HanmiGlobal, and continue to focus on project control services for Otak and TWG clients. Following an integration of the two firms’ human resources, IT, and finance systems, HanmiGlobal hopes to serve a larger client and project base.

The deal marks HanmiGlobal’s fifth cross-border M&A, which started from acquiring Otak in 2011, followed by mergers with Day CPM, Loris, and K2.

The company has aggressively expanded its overseas business, having run some 400 projects in over 60 countries. It has branches in 12 countries including the US, UK, China, and Japan.

Especially in the US where a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was recently signed into law under the Biden administration, HanmiGlobal is poised to cash in on the coming infrastructure boom, leveraging its merger with TWG and other US branches like Otak.

“With the acquisition of TWG, HanmiGlobal has gained an upper hand in entering the US construction market,” said a HanmiGlobal official in Seoul. “Having launched our US branch last month, we hope to recover from the pandemic slowdown and regain traction in our overseas business.”

By Ahn Ju-hee (dianahn@heraldcorp.com)