Strabag snatches Möbius

Austrian construction company Strabag SE has taken over a port and hydro power and building technology specialist in full.

The Vienna-based firm acquired a 70 per cent interest in Josef Möbius Bau AG (Möbius) four years ago. The company, which has its headquarters in Hamburg, carried out projects worth 150 million Euros in 2007, according to Strabag. Now the Austrian building business top dog bought the remaining shares to become the sole owner of Möbius.

Strabag refused to reveal a takeover price today (Fri). The firm has to await cartel authorities’ green light to declare the takeover legally effective as of 1 January 2011 retroactively.

The acquisition comes just three months after Strabag took over German water engineering expert Ludwig Voss GmbH.

Strabag is operating across Europe, but has increasingly focused on activities in Poland, Russia and the Arabian region due to a decrease of public investment on roadwork and infrastructure projects in Germany, Austria and other countries.

The firm, which has nearly 73,000 employees, carried out orders worth more than 2.3 billion Euros between January and March. Strabag was floated on the Vienna Stock Exchange (WBAG) in 2007. Its eight-member executive board is headed by Hans Peter Haselsteiner.