Egis acquires Omnia Projects: a foothold in Britain's electricity networks

The acquirer: Egis, an international consulting and engineering group

Headquartered in Guyancourt, France, Egis is an international player in architecture, consulting, construction engineering, and operations and mobility services, working towards more sustainable and resilient communities — with low-carbon energy among its strategic sectors. Present in 100 countries with 19,500 employees, the group runs one of the most active acquisition programmes in its industry: the acquisition of Omnia Projects is its 41st since 2020. Its energy strategy aims at a fully integrated service offering for the energy transition and grid modernisation in Europe — and electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) engineering, the bottleneck of every climate plan, is the decisive building block.

Omnia Projects: independent engineering for Britain's power networks

Based in the United Kingdom with three main offices, Omnia Projects is an engineering consultancy specialising in electricity transmission and distribution — feasibility studies, design, project management, technical assurance, commissioning and operational support across the full life cycle of energy projects. Founded in 2012 by Steve Crowe and Robert Martin, it employs more than 110 professionals and has become one of the largest independent electrical engineering firms in the country, with distinctive expertise in primary substation equipment, protection and control, civil and structural engineering, overhead lines and high-voltage cables — serving benchmark clients such as National Grid. Continuity is stated in the press release: the management team stays in place and the business retains its operational independence, while benefiting from the group's international reach, innovation and investment.

What the press said about the acquisition of Omnia Projects

The deal was announced on 24 April 2025 in the group's press release, published in a French and an international version — each addressed to its own market:

Why Egis acquired Omnia Projects — and why this target

For Egis, the aim is to build a fully integrated energy services offering — and the piece that drives everything else is network engineering: without grid connections, neither renewables, nor data centres, nor the electrification of end uses can happen, and the UK, committed to its Net Zero roadmap, has made grid modernisation a national programme. By acquiring the electricity transmission and distribution specialist, the group rounds out its capabilities — grid connections, substation design, lines and cables — and takes a position in one of Europe's deepest infrastructure markets. The deal also reflects a method: as the 41st acquisition since 2020, it extends an expansion built market by market, skill by skill.

On the target side, Omnia Projects had the profile the French press release sums up in one phrase: “one of the largest independent electrical engineering firms in the United Kingdom”. Its strengths are those that build lasting positions in the sector: expertise across the full project life cycle — from feasibility to commissioning — rare and sought-after specialisms — primary substations, protection and control, overhead lines and high-voltage cables — and a track record with the country's most demanding clients, National Grid first among them, whose trust is worth years of qualification. In a profession where the critical resource is the experienced engineer, its 110 professionals are the very asset being acquired — and the published deal structure protects them: management retained, operational independence preserved, shared values.

Electricity networks: the bottleneck of the energy transition

This deal illustrates the shift in the energy transition's centre of gravity: after the decade of renewables comes the decade of networks. Across Europe, connecting distributed generation, electrifying end uses and securing power systems require massive investment programmes in transmission and distribution — and the UK, with its Net Zero roadmap, has made this a nationwide programme. Yet the constraint is no longer capital but skills: substation, protection and control, and high-voltage line engineers are the scarcest resource in the sector, and the large engineering groups compete for the specialist consultancies that employ them — consolidation in energy consulting follows the curve of grid investment.

The deal also tells the story of the methodical building of a European engineering champion: 41 acquisitions since 2020, this one placing the French group at the heart of the British power system — a short-distance cross-border acquisition, from Guyancourt to Omnia's three offices, following other energy moves by the group as far afield as Australia. For the target, joining the group opens access to the resources and projects of a network of 19,500 employees without giving up any of its operational independence; for its teams, it takes a firm founded in 2012 by two engineers into a venture on a global scale — the typical path of the technical firms that the energy transition brings to the fore.

Collaboration Capital's added value as buy-side adviser

On this deal, Collaboration Capital acted as buy-side adviser. Acquiring an energy engineering consultancy plays out in four stages — and the nature of the asset, a team of scarce engineers qualified by its clients, shapes each one of them.