Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. plans to take its “preferred relationships” business model inside the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a new acquisition that the company hopes will lead to lucrative long-term partnerships.

The Pasadena-based giant last week purchased a 60-percent interest in Zamel & Turbag Consulting Engineers, known as Zate. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With only 410 employees, the Saudi-based construction management firm is tiny compared to Jacobs, which has more than 49,000 workers and $8.5 billion in revenue. But the acquisition gives Jacobs instant connections to a number of oil and petrochemical companies, many closely affiliated with the Saudi government.

“These key relationships are largely in line with Jacobs’ targeted group of clients that could be eventually included on its preferred list,” wrote Tahira Afzal, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, in a report following the announcement. “Zate has been working with key clients such as Saudi Aramco for decades, which should help further Jacobs’ inroads with local clients.”

Rather than bidding projects separately, Jacobs’ strategy centers on long-term customers that often sign formal partnership or alliance agreements. Chief Executive Craig Martin said such clients represent about 80 percent of the company’s business.

“Our model is about preferred relationships,” Martin said in a November conference call. “We’ve pretty much settled the commercial hash that goes with the business, so we know what we’re going to get paid and on what basis.”

Zate’s client list includes the Saudi government and a number of oil and energy companies, such as Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu and the Ministry of Defense & Aviation. Jacobs and Zate have one common client: Saudi Aramco.

The deal follows the same pattern as Jacobs’ acquisition last year of engineering firm Carter & Burgess. The deal only brought in $390 million in new work, a trifle compared to Jacobs’ backlog of $15 billion. But James Cook, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said the buy-out gave Jacobs important contacts within the U.S. military and in public infrastructure projects, both specialties of Carter & Burgess for decades.

So far, the Zate acquisition has barely moved Jacobs’ stock price. Shares traded at $71.65 on March 20, up only 2.5 percent in the three days following the announcement, a small fluctuation for an issue that has lost about 25 percent of its value so far this year. Reasons for the stock’s decline include a general slump in the construction and a downward cycle in the U.S. equity markets.

Afzal maintains a “buy” rating on the stock with a target price of $103, saying the company is “a good opportunity to build into a globally diverse infrastructure play.”