The group specialises in construction (Colas Group and Bouygues Construction), real estate development (Bouygues Immobilier), media (TF1 Group), and telecommunications (Bouygues Telecom).
The company was founded by Francis Bouygues in 1952.[4] In 1970 Bouygues became listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.[4] In 1985 and 1986, Bouygues acquired road construction groups Screg, Sacer, and Colas;[note 1][5] later reorganised as Colas Group.[4][6] In 1987 the company started operating the television channel TF1[4] and in 1988 Bouygues moved into its new head office, the Challenger complex, in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines.[4] In 1996 the company launched Bouygues Télécom[4] and in 2006 the company acquired 23.26% of Alstom.[4][7] In 2010, through its subsidiary Nerem Telecom, Bouygues also acquired HGT Telecom for $170 million from Henri Benezra and his brother Avi.[8]
In 2014, consecutively to Alstom's cession of its Energy activities to General Electric, Bouygues granted a call option to the French government, allowing it to acquire a maximum of 20% of Alstom, currently owned by the group.[9] In May 2018, the company purchased the Australian construction company A. W. Edwards.[10]
In 2021, Bouygues acquired the technical services business, Equans from Engie in a transaction worth €7.1bn.[11]
The company carries out the following businesses:[12]
Construction
Bouygues Construction (100% share): construction, public works, energy & services, with a presence in 80 countries worldwide
Colas Group (96.8% share): roadworks, construction, railways and maintenance
Bouygues Immobilier (100% share): residential, corporate, commercial and hotel real estate and urban development, property development
Telecoms - Media
Bouygues Télécom (90,5% share): mobile phone and fixed line operator
TF1 Group (43.7% share): audiovisual group; with TF1 and 9 other TV channels.
Transportation
BINA Istra (30.15% total ownership): Croatian joint stock company founded in 1995 to facilitate construction and subsequent management of an Istrian Y motorway[13]
The Bouygues head office is located at 32 Avenue Hoche in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The American architect Kevin Roche worked on this building, as well as the previous head office location, the Challenger complex in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. This complex, situated in a 30 hectares (74 acres) tract in Guyancourt, is now occupied by Bouygues Construction, one of the group's subsidiaries.[38][39]
Since 2006, Bouygues has participated in the United Nations Global Compact.[40] The group sponsors The Shift Project think tank, with several other companies such as EDF, BNP Paribas or Saint-Gobain, which promotes sustainable economic development.[41]
In this UK construction adjudication matter, the company's UK subsidiary had terminated the employment of its mechanical sub-contractor, Dahl-Jensen (UK). The adjudicator made a mistake in calculating outstanding payments due to Dahl-Jensen, which led to a Court of Appeal ruling in 2002 which stated that
... when an Adjudicator makes an error in calculating an amount payable to a party, the effect of which is to pay monies which are not due under the contract, that decision would not be void provided the Adjudicator had answered the issue that has been asked of him.[43]
Between 2009 and 2011, Bouygues S.A. was illegally employing workers from Poland and Romania exposing them to inhuman working conditions at the construction site of the Flamanville nuclear power plantinNormandy. The company was later condemned for their practices before the court in Cherbourg and was ordered to pay sanctions of between €25,000 and €29,950.[44]
On 30 January 2020 a ransomware-type virus was detected on Bouygues Construction's computer network although operational activity on the construction sites was disrupted. The "Maze Ransomware Gang" claimed responsibility for the attack and posted a 1.2 GB file that allegedly contained data taken from Bouygues Construction.[45]
^"ContactsArchived 29 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine." Bouygues Construction. Retrieved on 27 December 2011. "Bouygues Construction Challenger 1, avenue Eugène Freyssinet Guyancourt 78061 St-Quentin-en-Yvelines France"
€37.59 billion (2021)[1]
