GENIVAR Acquires WSA Trenchless Consultants & Envirotel

    The GENIVAR Income Fund (GENIVAR) announced Feb. 6 the acquisition of two consulting engineering firms: Sherbrooke-based Envirotel 3000 Inc. (Envirotel) and Montreal-based WSA Trenchless Consultants Inc. (WSA). Envirotel specializes in environmental services, while WSA (now known as WSA Trenchless Consultants, a division of GENIVAR) specializes in municipal infrastructure; the firms have a combined total of 15 employees.

    “Envirotel’s experts and scientists have developed a wide range of expertise, as well as state-of-the-art tools for wildlife and plant habitat development and inventory projects,” said Jean Boudreault, vice president of environment at GENIVAR. “These tools include a fish counting and classification system based on size and environmental conditions, in addition to a radar system for detecting bird and bat migration corridors that allows users to track long-distance movement patterns and to measure these species’ positions, speed, direction and altitude with great accuracy,” he added.

    Founded in 1989, Envirotel has a solid private and public-sector client base, including a number of private hydro and wind power developers, as well as Hydro-Quebec and several provincial and federal government departments and Crown corporations.

    “GENIVAR has also acquired WSA, a firm with unique expertise in trenchless technologies used to install, replace, test and stop leaks in water and wastewater systems,” said François Perreault, vice president, Western Quebec at GENIVAR. “This technique will enable us to rebuild aging infrastructure using less intrusive methods, thereby reducing the amount of ground-level excavation and minimizing the impact on local residents. WSA’s expertise complements and strengthens our position in the municipal infrastructure sector, which will remain very active over the next few years.

    Founded in 1997, WSA operates in several Canadian provinces and is ranked among North America‘s top 50 firms using trenchless rehabilitation techniques (Trenchless Technology magazine, December 2008). WSA has carried out projects in several Canadian provinces. Its clients include the City of Montreal, the City of Ottawa, the City of Cornwall, the City of Calgary and the Halifax Regional Water Commission.

    “By joining forces with GENIVAR, we will gain access to larger-scale projects while promoting our services within GENIVAR’s internal network. We will also be able to meet the growing needs of our clients, who require a comprehensive range of consulting engineering services,” said Richard Brunet, president of Envirotel, and Piero Salvo, president of WSA in a joint statement. “GENIVAR’s dynamic

entrepreneurial culture meshes perfectly with our respective business approaches, and our employees will be able to develop their skills while enjoying enhanced career opportunities.”

    GENIVAR is a leading Canadian engineering services firm providing privateand public-sector clients with a complete range of professional consulting services throughout all project phases, including planning, design, construction and maintenance. Ranging in size and scope, GENIVAR’s clients

primarily operate in the building, industrial, power, municipal infrastructure, transportation and environmental sectors. GENIVAR is one of Canada‘s largest consulting engineering services firms by number of employees, with more than 3,500 managers, professionals, technicians, technologists and support staff in more than 80 offices in Canada and internationally.