Mace, whose chairman Ian Macpherson retired in March, putting his 34% stake up for sale, will work with Scic Développement through a tie-up announced to staff on Wednesday night.
Scic's executive international manager Henri Mardegan said his 1400-strong firm, a subsidiary of the government-owned Caisse des Dépôts Développement, was excited by Mace's innovative approach.
He said: "Mace has shown it is possible to carry out construction management on the most complex of buildings.
"Mace is a leader in its field and we want to learn from its experience with the private finance initiative so that we are prepared for the day when more privatisation is introduced in France.
"It is too early to say what form the alliance will take. The plan is to set up a 50/50 joint company and to develop our project management and construction management businesses in different countries."
Tie-up, not takeover
With speculation about Mace widespread since Macpherson's retirement, some analysts in the industry have assumed that rumours of a French tie-up were in fact takeover talks.
Asked whether Scic was keen to buy Mace, Mardegan said: "It is not a question of that now, but maybe it will be interesting to us in time. Taking a stake in Mace? Why not? But for now we consider the gentlemen of Mace as good partners and anything more would be a second stage." Mace chief executive Bob White said: "We have been looking for strategic partners and this alliance will help us on the international front.
"We already have a growing and successful international business in the Middle East, Poland, Portugal and Spain, and we believe Scic can help us to grow this.
"It has a lot of up-front technical competence, design ability and project management-type services. Mace's downstream services, closer to the construction end, will be a good fit with that."
Taking risks together
"We will be targeting joint projects together initially," he continued. "Scic is also willing to put equity into projects. If the partnership develops, we could take risks together.
"There is a temptation to go for a bigger bang initially, but we feel the gradual getting-to-know-you process is better. Having said that, the aspiration is not necessarily to join the companies together in two years or so – although obviously we have told Scic what our circumstances are." The two firms are initially planning to bid for a job in the Middle East, and a business plan to work out the joint strategy is in the process of being drawn up.
Worldwide experience
Scic has had substantial experience of working on hospitals, and may assist Mace on several health projects in the UK. It is also strong in the area of urban regeneration, more of which are expected after Lord Rogers' urban taskforce's report. Scic has worked on regeneration projects in France, Ukraine and Hungary.
Facilities management is another area of strength for Scic. It worked on the European parliament complex in Brussels and is involved in the restoration of the Lenin library in Moscow.
Set up more than 40 years ago, the company now has a fee turnover of £90m-100m a year. It has advised on housing schemes throughout Europe, and it manages nearly 70 000 units of rented housing through local agencies, as well as acting as managing agent for some 35 000 condominium units.
Mace's White was due to unveil the tie-up to staff at a mid-year progress report.
Mace, which employs 500 staff and has a £30m turnover, has had a good 1999 so far, recently winning the construction management contract for a £130m complex for SmithKline Beecham at Brentford, west London.
