Skanska sees cheap shale gas boosting U.S. construction market

The size of construction group Skanska’s (SKAb.ST) business in the Americas could overtake that of its Nordic home markets, as it sees a surge in work on industrial plants as a result of the U.S. shale gas boom, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Johan Karlstrom, speaking at Reuters Nordic Investment Summit, said spending on infrastructure, new hospitals and facilities for high tech industries would contribute to its growth in the United States in the coming years.

But the key factor in its growth prospects now is a surge in U.S. demand for new plants in energy-intensive industries such as steel, glass and fertilizer production to take advantage of the cheap gas flowing from shale.

“I don’t rule out the American part (of the group’s business) becoming bigger than the Nordic part in the future,” Karlstrom said. The Nordic region generated 44 percent of Skanska’s revenues last year while North and South America accounted for 35 percent.

Karlstrom also said Skanska was keen on making acquisitions in the United States that stood to benefit from the shale gas boom as well as in public infrastructure where years of underspend had left a growing need for new investment.

“You only have to ride around New York and see what it looks like — subways, roads and so on are just falling apart. There is a huge amount of projects, bridges and such, not only there but across the United States,” he said.

Fonte: reuters.com