From left: Howard Lau, PE, SLSH president; John Thielst, Coffman vice president, managing princi-pal, Pacific Region; Craig Sakanashi, PE, SLSH vice president; Wayne Higuchi, PE, SLSH vice president; Beverly Ishii-Nakayama, PE, SLSH vice president
PHOTO COURTESY: COFFMAN ENGINEERS INC.
Coffman Engineers Inc. has acquired Shigemura, Lau, Sakanashi, Higuchi and Associates Inc. (SLSH) in a friendly buyout that expands the consulting firm’s structural engineering presence in the Pacific Region.
The acquisition includes six employees of SLSH, plus four owners who joined Coffman as principal advisors. The owners of SLSH are: Howard Lau, PE; Craig Sakanashi, PE; Wayne Higuchi, PE; and Beverly Ishii-Nakayama, PE.
“The acquisition of SLSH also provides clients a consistent team to work with as the two firms share many clients and opens the door to more opportunities together,” says John Thielst, senior VP, managing principal, Pacific region, for Coffman Engineers.
At the time of the November buyout, Coffman had 71 employees in Hawaii and seven on Guam. “This transition allows the four principals of SLSH to ease into retirement over many years without going through a more complicated acquisition process,” says Howard Lau, president of SLSH. “SLSH wanted to be assured their clients and staff would be well taken care of and Coffman has a track record of being able to do this.”
The move also comes a year after Coffman acquired Honolulu-based mechanical engineering firm Miyashiro and Associates in March 2021, Moss Engineering Inc. (electrical) in 2014 and S.S. Dannaway and Associates (fire protection) in 2016.
