Acciona already had a very large reason to care about Georgia. The Madrid-based contractor is halfway through building the SR 400 Express Lanes, the $4.6 billion P3 north of Atlanta. Now it is buying the self-perform capacity to go with it.
The firm said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire 80% of Vertical Earth, an infrastructure builder headquartered in Cumming, Georgia. Terms weren’t disclosed. The deal is expected to close near the end of the year.
What Acciona gets in the Vertical Earth deal
Vertical Earth was founded in 1997. It generated $217 million in revenue in 2025 and employs more than 600 people across Georgia and Florida, according to Acciona. Founder and CEO Brett Johnson keeps his title and retains a 20% stake.
The strategic language in the announcement is unusually plain: Atlanta becomes the hub for the growth of Acciona’s U.S. infrastructure division. What that buys, beyond a metro address, is crews. Foreign contractors entering the American market almost always arrive as managers and financiers, then discover they’re captive to a subcontractor base they don’t control. Self-perform earthwork, structures, and site crews are the hedge. Local supplier relationships and a bench of Georgia and Florida talent come with them.
Why foreign contractors keep shopping in the U.S.
Acciona’s own math explains the appetite. The company puts the U.S. at 20% of the global infrastructure market and roughly $303 billion in contracting potential this year. That is a bigger addressable pool than Europe offers, and it’s backed by IIJA money that still has years of obligation left.
The deal also lands inside a genuinely hot M&A cycle. Water, interiors, and heavy civil have all seen aggressive consolidation over the past 18 months, and mid-size regional builders with real revenue and a founder willing to roll equity are the scarce asset. Vertical Earth checks every box.
The pattern to watch
There’s a version of this story that reads as a foreign giant buying its way into a growth market. There’s another version that reads as a $217 million contractor getting a balance sheet big enough to chase billion-dollar P3s it could never have bonded alone. Both are true.
What’s worth tracking is whether Acciona actually integrates the crews or just books them. Companies like ENR-ranked Ferrovial and Sacyr have made similar U.S. acquisitions and produced mixed results, largely depending on whether the acquired field organization kept its bidding autonomy. Johnson keeping 20% and the CEO seat suggests Acciona learned something from watching.