JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Through its merger with global engineering and construction company Foster Wheeler, metallurgical engineering company MDM Engineering had improved its ability to grow its business in current tough market conditions, MDM executive director and founder George Bennett said on Friday.

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online following an announcement by Foster Wheeler on Thursday that the combination of the two companies had been completed and that MDM would now become part of Foster Wheeler’s minerals and metals group, Bennett stated that the deal would give MDM access to more projects around the world.

“We see Foster Wheeler giving us support and enabling us to grow into other jurisdictions around the world. [That] should make it easier for us to ride out the tough times in [the] mining [sector] right now,” he said.

Bennett explained that Foster Wheeler had bought MDM as a strategic acquisition to build its minerals and metals capability globally.

“[Foster Wheeler has] a capability in the Americas, but MDM is going to enhance this global metals and minerals capability. We are excited about that and the opportunities it presents to the MDM staff,” he noted. 

He pointed out that Foster Wheeler had chosen MDM to fulfil this role as it was a company with a capability that spanned multiple commodities.

Bennett said MDM was working on projects across a range of metals, including gold, uranium, platinum, chromite, silver, iron-ore, rare earths, manganese, phosphate, copper, zinc and diamonds.

Meanwhile, Bennett said the merger would not affect MDM’s day-to-day operations.

“MDM will remain as MDM within the Foster Wheeler group. We maintain our existing offices and our staff complement is maintained,” he said, adding that existing clients would also now benefit from being a part of a global engineering organisation, which would give them access to global procurement and good engineering expertise.

“In addition, Foster Wheeler is a global company with a market capitalisation of over $3-billion, which significantly enhances our ability to pursue larger projects, something we could not previously consider because of the size of our balance sheet.

“Foster Wheeler also has excellent systems and procedures for controlling large complex projects which we will now be able to adopt and utilise on our engineering procurement and construction projects,” he added.

Further, Foster Wheeler also stated that consultancy, engineering and project management company Amec had formally launched a tender offer for Foster Wheeler, which was expected to close in the fourth quarter.

“This offers even more opportunity. Amec is already a very well-established player in the mining and minerals sector and also has a global network of operations around the world. The combined offering to clients in this sector will be very comprehensive, with the specialist skills, services, operations and track record of MDM, Foster Wheeler and Amec,” the company said.