Italy: RINA Acquires D’Appolonia Engineering Consultancy

International classification society RINA has taken control of the D’Appolonia Group, a global engineering consultancy headquartered in Genoa. The acquisition of an 80 per cent holding in D’Appolonia SPA significantly strengthens RINA’s global engineering consultancy and takes RINA’s projected 2012 turnover to over Euro300m.

The D’Appolonia Group, founded in the USA but headquartered in Genoa since 1981, delivers engineering competencies in the field of strategic consultancy, planning and design in various industrial sectors from a global network of offices. It generated revenue in 2011 of over Euro87m. The group employs over 580 multidisciplinary staff with extensive capabilities in the earth sciences, civil, environmental and structural engineering, risk assessment, health and safety, chemical and process engineering, system and transport engineering, electronics, telecommunications and innovation engineering.

The companies of the Group provide integrated engineering services to the public and private markets in the sectors of environment, energy, infrastructure and transport, electronics and telecommunications, with a successful track record of over 20,000 projects.

Ugo Salerno, CEO of RINA, says “The acquisition of another company founded on excellence like D’Appolonia is a step forward in our development strategy which is based on boosting our competencies, improving synergies and delivering services with a high added value. We can provide a wider range of expert services to more companies and governments world-wide, as D’Appolonia’s expertise and markets strengthen some things we already do and also widen the range of services we can deliver. In this 150th anniversary year we are transforming the RINA Group and positioning it to grow and develop further, consolidating our presence in global markets and widening our range of services by acquiring other excellent companies.”

Giampaolo Vaccaro, President of D’Appolonia says, “With our other stakeholders we spent a long time considering before deciding who to entrust the future of D’Appolonia to, and in the RINA Group we identified the values, the reliability and the strategic vision which we are certain will enable our company to reach new and important objectives.”

D’Appolonia‘s main markets are Italy with 48 per cent, Europe with 24.5 per cent and Asia with 22 per cent. The company has its headquarters in Genoa and a network of eight foreign offices and six in Italy. The 20 per cent of the company not acquired by RINA remains with the original private shareholders.

RINA is one of the oldest classification societies and certification companies in the world. Established in Genoa in 1861 to serve the marine industry, today it spans the globe as a multinational and multi-faceted company, sharing its knowledge and experience through a wide range of services which help industries and the community to improve their businesses and quality of life. RINA’s services cover the environment, energy, transportation, logistics, safety, quality and social responsibility.

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Source: RINA, November 10, 2011