NGE has announced that it is acquiring Saceem, the Uruguayan civil engineering and concession company that has been NGE’s partner in the Central Railway public-private partnership (PPP) project to upgrade the 264km line from Montevideo to Paso de los Toros.

The acquisition has been approved by Uruguay’s competition authority, and remains subject to standard conditions, NGE says. With an enterprise value of $US 50m, the transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this month with NGE entirely funding the acquisition with equity.

The deal represents NGE’s largest-ever expansion outside its home market of France, and is expected to increase international revenue to just over €700m in 2025, representing growth of 78% over 12 months on a pro-forma basis.

With Saceem’s 1800 employees, NGE Group would employ 5800 people outside France, accounting for 22.5% of its workforce.

NGE says that Saceem is Uruguay’s leading civil engineering contractor, active in the infrastructure and concessions sectors, and has experienced sustained growth of 130% since 2015. With an average annual growth rate of around 9%, revenue reached $US 350m in 2024.

By joining NGE, Saceem will be able to leverage the investment capacity of its new owner, NGE says, which reported revenue of €4.6bn in 2024 and is active in 20 countries. New prospects for development include concessions and project engineering capability.

Through the acquisition, NGE intends to become a key player in Latin America, building on Saceem’s expertise in strategic infrastructure projects and strengthening its regional footprint in Uruguay as well as Saceem’s current export markets of Peru and Paraguay. Latin America will become NGE’s major market outside France, ahead of Africa.

Over the past eight years, NGE and Saceem have been partners on the Central Railway, described as the largest transport infrastructure project in the history of Uruguay. The first PPP undertaken by NGE outside France, the project involved raising $US 1.2bn in debt, equity and loans to fund the upgrade of the Montevideo - Paso de los Toros line for freight operations.

“This partnership brings together two companies with complementary expertise and a common vision to jointly deliver ever more ambitious projects in Uruguay, Peru and Paraguay,” says NGE chairman, Jean Bernadet.

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