The six major Spanish manufacturers continue to increase their exposure to the US market with large awards, despite the uncertainty that still weighs around the coronavirus, in their desire to take over as much of the cake as possible. of the new $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan announced by new U.S. President Joe Biden.
The Spanish that has achieved the best position in recent years to participate in this plan is ACS, which in North America alone earned 17.3 billion euros last year, more than half of what it gets worldwide .
In addition, of its current global portfolio of 70 billion euros, 44% corresponds to this region. In 2020 alone, its allocations in the United States reached 4 billion euros. “The North American region remains stable thanks to the resilience of the U.S. and Canadian markets,” the company highlights in its accounts.
In 2021, already under the Biden Administration, ACS has done with water sanitation and transportation works in California for 100 million, with the renovation of Dallas airport for 100 million and the construction of a hospital in Washington for $ 320 million, at the same time as it has embarked on the New York project to develop a offshore wind farm off its coast.
The company has a complex structure of subsidiaries around the world and is now trying to simplify this network of companies, but only in the United States does it have EE Cross, JF WHITE, John Picone, Prince, Pulice or Schiavone, although the most active they are Ferro, Turner and Dragados USA.
Also present in the country is its concessionaire Iridium, with 10 motorways and 6 railway projects in the region, as well as Abertis, which closed in 2020 the acquisition of 100% of Elizabeth River Crossings, a tunnel in Virginia. for approximately 1 billion euros.
DISCRETE PRESENCE OF ACTION
The second largest construction company by revenue, Acciona, although far from ACS -6472 million compared to 35 billion–, has a smaller presence in the United States, which is mainly reduced to renewable projects: 1,064 megawatts (MW) , 10% of its total portfolio, in 10 wind farms, as well as 64 MW in thermoelectric.
Its Infrastructure division has a portfolio of 1,536 million euros in North America, 10% of its total portfolio –especially in Canada–, a figure lower than its presence in Australia and Latin America, which they cover 23% of each area. In Water it has a desalination plant that supplies 333,000 inhabitants of Florida.
KEY MARKET FOR RAILWAY
Ferrovial, meanwhile, which grossed 6,158,000 euros in 2020 –excluding the 5 billion from its Services division, currently on sale–, considers the United States as its market with the most potential and where it develops projects in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina.
The company has six major highways in the country. Of the 405 million that this division entered, 301 million belong to the United States, 74% of the total. Under construction, North America accounts for 38% of turnover, with its subsidiary Webber currently breaking into projects in the advanced execution phase.
So far this year, the firm chaired by Rafael de el Pi has been awarded the improvement of a section of a highway in Georgia for 192 million euros, has partnered with Lilium, a company that develops a future flying taxi, to build 20 ‘vertipuertos’ in Florida, and has been awarded the construction and maintenance of the Texas i-35 highway for 1,273 million euros.
FCC TRUSTS TO EXPAND
Already outside the Ibex 35, FCC entered 6,158,000 euros last year, of which only 85 million corresponded to the United States –especially in the area of Environment–, although the company argues that in the coming years “it will continue to consolidate its presence by growing in more residential contracts and boosting commercial collection activity.”
In this regard, FCC has recently begun to provide the service of urban solid waste collection, pruning and landfill management in the city of Omaha (Nebraska), a new contract valued at more than 400 million euros for a period of 20 years.
Under construction, just 9 million euros were recorded, while its Water subsidiary, Aqualia, states that it will maintain the study of possibilities in markets such as the United States. It also has a 44.6% minority stake in Giant Cement, which operates several factories on the east coast of the United States.
CUP 7% OF SACYR ACTIVITY
For its part, Sacyr began its construction activity in the country in 2018 and has since won seven contracts in the states of Florida and Texas, which add up to a construction portfolio of more than 575 million euros.
This year it has closed funding for its first concession project in the country to operate the services of the University of Idaho for 50 years, a contract that will generate revenue of 1.2 billion euros. Of the 4,548,000 it entered in 2020, the United States accounts for about 7%.
OHL MAIN MARKET
Finally, OHL has also focused all its efforts in the United States, a country where it has been present since 2006 through its subsidiaries OHL USA or Judlau Contracting, among others, and operates in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois. , Texas and Florida on road projects, bridges, rail infrastructure, tunnels, plumbing and buildings.
In 2020, of the 2,830.7 million it earned worldwide, 42% came from this country, in which its portfolio amounts to 1,354 million euros. This market stood out above the others in which it is present and, in fact, offset the fall it recorded in Europe and Latin America, which account for 37.3% and 19%, respectively, of its revenue figure. .
In January OHL was awarded a contract to the country to carry out the design and construction of 17 elevators in the New York subway within 31 months and for a total amount of 122 million euros.