URS to buy China-based engineering firm

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- URS Corp. has acquired Austin Ausino Engineering Co. Ltd., a privately held provider of program management and construction management services to multinational clients entering the China market. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The transaction will enhance the Company's existing resources in China, allowing URS to better serve its multinational clients investing in that market. In addition, Austin Ausino's technical capabilities in the area of program and construction management will augment URS' existing local capabilities, which are primarily focused on environmental engineering.

Commenting on today's announcement, Martin M. Koffel, URS Chairman and CEO, said: "This transaction is an important step towards our goal of building URS' presence within China and further progresses our strategy of leveraging URS' strong relationships with multinational corporations in the U.S. market to grow our international business. With a significant flow of capital investment currently coming into China, we see considerable opportunities for additional work with multinationals, many of whom are already our clients under existing Master Service Agreements."

Austin Ausino has a staff of about 50 professionals and offices in Shanghai and Suzhou, an industrial city 100 kilometers from Shanghai. Austin Ausino's founders have operated in China for nearly twenty years. URS has operated in China since 1996, when it acquired Greiner Engineering. Prior to the acquisition of Austin Ausino, URS had about 25 employees in its Shanghai office, primarily providing environmental services to multinational clients with operations in China.

Since entering the China market, URS also has worked on a number of important infrastructure projects, including designing the Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau Bridge linking Hong Kong to Lantau Island. In addition, the Company provided design services for the Guangzhou Bayun International Airport expansion and currently is serving as managing partner of the team providing planning and environmental studies for the Hong Kong International Airport.

URS Corp. (www.urscorp.com) offers a comprehensive range of professional planning and design, systems engineering and technical assistance, program and construction management, and operations and maintenance services for transportation, commercial/industrial, facilities, environmental, water/wastewater, homeland security, installations and logistics, and defense systems. Based in San Francisco, the company operates in more than 20 countries with about 28,000 employees providing engineering and technical services to federal, state and local governmental agencies as well as private clients in the chemical, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, power, manufacturing, mining and forest products industries.

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