The French construction group VINCI has acquired the French electrical engineering company, Cegelec, from Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment. Qatari Diar is a subsidiary of the Qatari state fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and previously owned Cegelec.

The purchase price is to be paid entirely in VINCI shares, making the Qatari investment fund one of VINCI’s principal shareholders after VINCI employees, Vinci SA announced on Monday. As a result of the approx. EUR 1.8 billion transaction, VINCI would become one of Europe's leading energy services providers, and bring about a rise in annual sales in this sector from the present figure of EUR 4.5 billion to over EUR 7 billion.

In return, the Qatari company is to be granted a seat on the board of the French group.

Cegelec operates in the electrical engineering sector in the areas of industrial and infrastructure plants, as well as technical services, and has 27,000 employees in 30 countries, VINCI further announced.

The transaction has yet to be approved by the employee committees and the responsible antitrust authority, VINCI added.