Thornton acquires Dane Engineering for Rs.350 m

Thornton Engineering, the Nextventures owned civil engineering company, has totally acquired Dane Engineering (Pvt) Ltd. for Rs. 350 million, creating a construction business with a combined portfolio of Rs. 5.9 billion, the company announced this week.

The new entity, Thornton and Dane Engineering, expects to add new construction projects with a cumulative value of Rs. 5 billion within the current financial year, nearly doubling its projects portfolio, it said in a media release.

With this acquisition the Board of Directors of Thornton and Dane will comprise Messrs Deepthi Perera (Managing Director), Piyal Hennayake (CEO), and directors - Dinesh Schaffter, Sivasothy Sitharthan and Eng. K. P. I. U. Dharmapala.

“We are excited at the post-acquisition prospects for the new company, because we strongly believe that it is a good example for the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts,” said Thornton and Dane Director Mr. Schaffter. “The combined strengths of Thornton and Dane create a formidable as well as extremely flexible engineering company that is capable of executing projects of varying scope and scale.”

Dane Engineering founder Deepthi Perera who serves as Managing Director of Thornton and Dane, added: “This acquisition is a logical and timely milestone in the evolution of both entities. It creates synergies and capabilities that are needed to succeed in Sri Lanka’s construction sector at a time when many companies are facing challenges in achieving growth due to economic slowdowns and the effects of the global pandemic. We are confident that our business will emerge stronger and even more agile as a result of this acquisition.”

A construction service company with origins dating back to 2004, Dane Engineering is registered with ICTAD of Sri Lanka as a Grade C1 contracting company and is ISO 9001 certified. Founded as an offshore ship salvaging company, Dane Engineering employs 400 people.