Engineering consultancy FDT acquired by Danish firm NIRAS

FDT, which was established in 1991, has offices in Cork and Dublin. It offers process engineering and project management services, as well as compliance support and sustainability initiatives.

It works with companies in the food and beverage sectors on the design of product plants. Other clients include businesses in the biosolutions, pharma and life sciences sectors.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.

“It is our ambition at NIRAS to achieve a leading position as expert consultants to the food & beverage, life science, and green fuels industries,” NIRAS executive vice president Thomas B. Olsen said.

"With this acquisition, NIRAS and FDT Consulting Engineers and Project Managers Ltd will be able to create growth opportunities driven by scale and expertise.”

He added that both companies will be able to grow their offerings, both in Ireland and internationally.

FDT and its subsidiary BrewConnect employ around 70 people in Ireland, which will now join NIRAS.

"At FDT, we believe that this acquisition marks a pivotal step towards enhancing our global reach and strengthening our service offerings,” FDT managing director John Hanley said.

"By integrating NIRAS’s extensive industry expertise and global scale with FDT’s proven track record in process engineering and sustainability, we are poised to deliver unparalleled value to our clients,” he added.

This marks the second acquisition by the Danish multinational in the Irish market and brings the total number employed by the group to 120 here.

NIRAS also acquired Mayo-based Dolmen Engineering in June 2022. Dolmen Engineering specialised in projects in the pharma and life sciences industries.

Following this acquisition, Castlebar is now the location of the headquarters of NIRAS in Ireland.

NIRAS, founded in 1956, employs more than 3,000 people in 31 countries. It provides consultancy on more than 7,000 projects in sectors including energy, pharma and life science and green fuels.

The group recorded earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation (Ebita) of DKK 167m (€22.3m) in 2023.

Revenues rose to DKK 3.8bn (€510m) last year.