Deal will create a combined company with £11.1bn in annual sales and more than 95,000 employees

World Trade Centre - New York

World Trade Centre - New York

Aecom has announced it will pay $4bn (£2.3bn) to acquire fellow US engineering giant URS.

The deal will create a combined company with $19bn (£11.1bn) in annual sales and more than 95,000 employees.

Both firms have a significant UK presence, after Aecom acquired UK-based consultant Davis Langdon and URS acquired UK-based consultant Scott Wilson, both in 2010.

Aecom and URS, both based in California, expect to close the deal in October.

Aecom said the deal would make it one of the largest companies by revenue in the engineering and construction industry, and that it would become the largest publicly traded company headquartered in Los Angeles.

The transaction will create $250m (£146m) in annual cost-saving synergies, nearly all of which will be achieved by the end of the 2016 financial year, Aecom said.

Aecom’s contracting arm Tishman Construction is working on the construction of the One World Trade Centre (pictured) in New York.