Balfour Beatty said that the sale to Hitachi Rail would support Omnicom’s growth strategy to expand beyond the UK into the US and mainland Europe.
Balfour Beatty’s UK Rail business will continue to focus on its core capability of managing and maintaining rail infrastructure across the UK.
Omnicom develops and deploys AI-enabled technology alongside hardware and software to capture rail data for customers including Network Rail and London Underground.
Mick Rayner, managing director of Balfour Beatty’s UK Rail business, said: “In order to capitalise on its unique technological solutions to the rail market, Omnicom requires an owner with a truly global reach and a complementary culture. Hitachi’s acquisition will further enable Omnicom to leverage its capabilities and apply its expertise in the rail and digital technology sectors in both the US and European markets”.
Omnicom managing director Sanjay Razdan said: “This acquisition strengthens Omnicom’s ability to collaborate, innovate and deliver AI-enabled systems and services whilst further enhancing the safety, efficiency, and reliability of rail infrastructure, building on our proven data driven solutions which help predict and prevent railway asset failures. I look forward to Omnicom’s continuing success as part of the Hitachi brand”.
Hitachi Rail chief executive Giuseppe Marino said: “This is a strategic acquisition for Hitachi Rail. Plugging Omnicom’s pioneering track monitoring tools into our digital asset management platform, will further strengthen our global offer to optimize customers’ rail services and the surrounding infrastructure. New technological solutions such as our HMAX platform demonstrate the power of AI to enhance the performance of our railway infrastructure and systems.”
