UPDATE: 6/25/14, 8:45 a.m. EDT. The names of the lead lawyers from Stikeman Elliott advising SNC-Lavalin have been added to the fifth paragraph of this story.

Canadian engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin Group has agreed to pay $1.97 billion in cash and pick up key energy industry clients such as Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell by acquiring British oil and gas engineering company Kentz Corp., which had rebuffed two other takeover attempts in recent months.