Hollandsche Beton Groep

[3] During the 1970s, HBG pursued a strategy of expanding overseas; one of the more major acquisitions made around this time was the British civil engineering contracting firm Edmund Nuttall Ltd in 1978.

[12] Accordingly, it purchased the Glasgow-based contractor GA Holdings (formerly Gilbert Ash) in 1992,[13] and the London-centric construction firm Higgs and Hill in 1996.

[17] During 2000, HBG and the Dutch maritime construction firm Boskalis Westminster NV explored multiple avenues aimed at merging the two businesses, ranging from a hostile takeover to even agreeing terms from a friendly transaction.

[18][19] However, even though the European Commission cleared such a deal to proceed, it did not come to fruition, allegedly due to disagreements over the proposed combined enterprise's direction.

[20][21] It was speculated that such an arrangement would have created the market leader in the Benelux region (in terms of turnover) as well as one of the five largest European construction companies.