SOCOTEC acquires GIMAC in Italy, strengthening its European leadership in UXO risk management

• A strategic acquisition combining UXO risk assessment, geophysical investigation and clearance for major infrastructure projects.

The SOCOTEC Group, a leading international player in Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) for the construction and infrastructure sectors, announces the acquisition by SOCOTEC Italia of GIMAC S.r.l., a leading Italian specialist in unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk assessment, detection and clearance, mostly dating from the First and Second World Wars.

​​​​​​​With this acquisition, SOCOTEC takes a significant step in the UXO business.

While UXO risk management represents a new specialist activity for SOCOTEC Italia, it is already a well-established expertise within the Group: SOCOTEC is the market leader in UXO services in Germany. Bringing together these two national leaders creates the foundations for a broader European centre of expertise, combining local market knowledge, specialist teams, technologies and operational know-how.

Founded in 2011, GIMAC is now #1 in Italy in the UXO business. The company operates throughout Italy with 65 specialised professionals and holds the highest level of qualification available in the country for terrestrial UXO clearance.

Its expertise spans the entire risk-management process, from historical analysis and preliminary UXO risk assessment to magnetometric and geophysical investigations and surface and deep clearance.

This expertise is increasingly critical to major infrastructure projects, where understanding subsurface conditions and identifying potential hazards at the earliest possible stage are key to securing works, schedules and investments. GIMAC has built a strong track record across Italy, particularly in major road and rail projects, working with infrastructure operators, concessionaires and general contractors.

A natural extension of SOCOTEC’s infrastructure strategy.

The acquisition also fits directly into SOCOTEC’s broader strategy of moving upstream in the infrastructure lifecycle and expanding its ability to identify, assess and manage risks before construction begins. GIMAC’s capabilities are highly complementary to SOCOTEC Italia’s 140 M€ business and 1,000 people in 21 locations, and leading expertise in geophysics, geotechnical investigation, material testing, diagnostics and monitoring for the infrastructure end-market. Together, these capabilities enable SOCOTEC Italia to provide an increasingly integrated understanding of ground and subsurface risks, from initial investigation through construction and throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. GIMAC will also benefit from SOCOTEC Italia’s growing involvement in marine infrastructure projects.

From national expertise to a European UXO platform

At European level, combining GIMAC’s strong position in Italy with SOCOTEC’s market-leading UXO activities in Germany will accelerate the strategy and the sharing of expertise, methodologies and technologies between teams. It will also strengthen the Group’s ability to mobilise specialist capabilities for increasingly large and complex infrastructure programmes across Europe.