Construction

A merger with site investigation contractor Structural Soils has turned environmental consultancy group RSK into the largest and most technically proficient geotechnical service provider in the UK. The merger is the largest in the company’s history.

Since 1964, Structural Soils has grown to become one of the most respected site investigation contractors in the UK, working for blue chip clients such as Thames Water, the Highways Agency and Network Rail. In doing so the past 12 months has seen an impressive 33% growth for the company. Now part of RSK Group, the company will be known as ‘Structural Soils, an RSK Group company’ retaining its well-established brand identity.

Structural Soils Managing Director Alec Handcock said:

“This is the right move for us at the right time and will help us evolve as a business. RSK’s accreditations, in-house systems and vast range of environmental capabilities will be a tremendous addition to our own services. All our staff have been very positive about the merger and are continuing to work hard on expanding the business still further”

RSK Group managing director Dr Alan Ryder added:

“This is a major coup for us considering the amount of experience and expertise Structural Soils has. With business opportunities emerging in the brownfield sector to the extent that they are, RSK now finds itself in a very good position indeed.”

BCMS Corporate were Advisers to Structural Soils and, reflecting on this, Mr Handcock said ‘I attended one the BCMS’s seminars initially and was very impressed. Perhaps like many business owners I was unsure who would actually want to buy our business. I was not keen to sell to competitors as I believe we offer a better a service than them. The research carried out by BCMS Corporate generated a wide variety of potential acquirers, most of whom I would have never considered myself. Their whole process worked extremely well and without this I believe we have not have achieved not only a good sale price but also a merger with such a complimentary company as RSK Group. I would certainly recommend BCMS Corporate to anyone.’

A provider of contract cleaning, security and maintenance for retail and business properties has been acquired in a £10 million buy-in management buy-out.

London Property Maintenance was founded in 1978 and focuses on office, industrial, retail and specialist buildings in the Southeast, providing services nationwide. Its clients include shopping centres and office buildings. LPM also offers pest control, refuse collection and services covering areas such as janitorial supplies, windows, carpets, office equipment, kitchens, stone and exteriors.

The acquisition of LPM was backed by private equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners which also committed £10 million of equity to support LPM’s ‘buy and build’ strategy, which will develop the business through organic and acquisitive growth.

Marriott Harrison advised the management team. It was led by corporate partner Duncan Innes, assisted by Ben Devons and Dan Wicksteed. Marriott Harrison continues to act for LPM.

Innes said: “This was a traditional BIMBO transaction that involved equity, loan stock, employees, management and sales. The underlying challenge was to create a synergy between the two new management team members, the existing team member and the investors. This has evidently been achieved.

“All the parties were keen to complete the business transfer and get on with running the business as quickly as possible and the transaction was successfully completed in just 18 days after the initial instruction.”

BCMS Corporate was adviser to the vendor, Chris Ryan, who led the transaction said: ‘The deal secured with Sovereign Capital represented a significant improvement on alternative offers from a number of related businesses which were already at advanced stages of negotiation.

“Once the deal was agreed a detailed due diligence process taking 12 months verified the quality and integrity of our client’s business and our representation of the business in our initial Information Memorandum. Despite the lengthy due diligence process we continued to reinforce the quality and value of our client’s business, ensuring that the deal was still completed at the agreed price.”