Obelisk acquired by Portugese telecoms giant

Irish engineering services business, Obelisk, has been acquired by Constructel Visabeira, a leading company in the global telecommunications and energy networks engineering sector.

It is a subsidiary of telecoms and energy networks giant, Grupo Visabeira.

The Cavan headquartered firm announced its acquisition this week, with the new group generating a projected annual turnover in excess of €1billion.

Founded in 1996, Obelisk currently employs around 250 people across Ireland and the UK.

The local firm declined to disclose the final sale figure but insists there will be no impact on staff at the Cavan office.

"In fact, the new acquisition means there will be plans to grow the team in the near future both in Cavan and further afield," said a spokesperson.

In a statement released by the company, Obelisk said the new partnership would provide access to new markets including UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and the US.

Part of the firm's growth strategy, it will see the Cavan business join Grupo Visabeira, alongside other leading telecommunications and energy companies such as MJ Quinn.

In addition to Obelisk’s newly expanded geographical footprint and the creation of further employment opportunities, the company will continue to provide existing services and turnkey infrastructure solutions to clients in the Irish and UK telecoms and energy sectors.

This will be alongside a newly diversified offering and increased technical capacity to help build further growth opportunities in digitalisation, technology infrastructures, fibre deployment and the continued international investment in mobile and wireless networks.

Speaking on the deal, newly appointed Obelisk CEO, Ronnie Delaney commented: “We are very pleased to welcome this new chapter in Obelisk’s growth. The coming together of Obelisk and Constructel Visabeira will create one of Europe’s leading telecommunications and energy services companies, with expected annual turnover in excess of €1 billion.

"Obelisk is now well positioned to accelerate new growth opportunities, to continue investing and expanding our skilled workforce across the UK and Ireland, and to offer more complete solutions for our clients in new and existing markets.”

Obelisk founding directors, Colm Murphy and Padraig Brady, also commented: “Having first founded Obelisk in 1996, we have seen the business go from strength to strength over the last 26 years, building a specialised workforce capable of managing and delivering the most complex and high-quality engineering projects across Ireland and UK. We look forward to this new era of business and continued success with Constructel Visabeira, to offer clients across the globe a more diversified service offering and more innovative solutions.”

Constructel Visabeira CEO, Nuno Marques, welcomed the Obelisk team to its wider group: “We look forward to working with their talented team of professionals to expand our productive and operational capacity. We place quality and efficiency at the centre of everything we do, and as we look toward new trends in the telecoms, power and technology sectors, our new partnership with Obelisk will complement our overarching vision to increasingly meet the global needs of our various international markets.”