From left to right : Dominic Ste-Marie, Daniel Pelneault, Yan Sylvestre, Daniel Mercier, Steve Guénard, Yan Ménard et Mathieu Bélanger-Huot

PRESS RELEASE

New alliance will accelerate further development of Groupe ABS

Montreal, January 16, 2025 – Quebec’s Groupe ABS today announced that it has become a major partner of the Ginger Group, Europe’s leading independent engineering company specializing in soil, water, materials and environmental engineering, with 2,800 employees, a presence in 100 countries and almost 5,000 clients.

The majority of the shares of Ginger Group are owned by Sagard, a private equity firm owned by the well-known Quebec Desmarais family. Ginger Group has now become the majority shareholder in Groupe ABS. Daniel Mercier remains President of Groupe ABS, and his associates retain their current responsibilities.

This transaction was made possible by the shared expertise of the two consulting engineering companies, their similar values, working and communication language, which will be French, and the development prospects that this agreement will bring.

By adding some 700 employees of Groupe ABS to those of Ginger Group, this new association will bring together over 3,500 employees on all continents, creating a benchmark engineering group on a global scale.

‘‘By joining forces with Ginger, Groupe ABS will be able to draw on a much larger pool of human and financial resources. In addition, we’ll be able to offer our clients new areas of expertise. Through this alliance, we’ll also be able to strengthen our positioning when it comes to bidding on major projects,’’ explained Daniel Mercier, President and Founder of Groupe ABS.

For Philippe Margarit, President of Ginger Group: ‘‘This is a big step for Ginger and I’m delighted to welcome Groupe ABS. Our activities and values are very similar, and this partnership will be an important mutual enrichment for our teams on every continent.’’

‘‘The Ginger Group will raise our profile and enable us to accelerate our development in the rest of Canada and beyond. Groupe ABS thus becomes the spearhead of Ginger Group in North America,’’ Daniel Mercier added.

 

About Ginger Group

Ginger Group is the French leader in independent and committed engineering. Specializing in soil, water, materials, environmental and development aid engineering, the Group secures projects and structures, optimizes their sustainability and incorporates them into their environmental setting. Ginger develops its expertise around a unique value chain: sample, analyse, diagnose and recommend, conceive and implement. With a network of 80 sites in mainland France, the French overseas territories and around the world, the Group employs 2,800 people. Ginger represents 320 million euros of annual turnover and over 30,000 studies conducted every year around the world.

About Groupe ABS

Founded in 1993 and established in ten regions of Quebec, Groupe ABS offers a wide range of services in materials monitoring and engineering, metallurgy, geotechnics, environment, geophysics, building science and rock mechanics. Groupe ABS has specialized drilling divisions (Explora-Sol), enabling it to offer turnkey consulting mandates. The Qualilab division was added to the ABS family in January 2022 to provide more qualified resources to meet the needs of different customers. In July 2022, TechnoRem and Groupe ABS joined forces to offer additional services in hydrogeology, drinking water management, digital modeling, environmental characterization and contaminated site management. Groupe ABS has 700 employees in all of its divisions.