Member Article

Harrogate £60 million turnover environmental firm in secondary buyout

Mid-market private equity house LDC has backed the secondary buyout of oil and environmental services business Adler & Allan as the firm plans further expansion.

A&A, which was founded in 1926, is headquartered in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with over 450 employees. The Group serves the power, utility, telecoms, corporate and on-shore oil and gas sectors in the UK through its network of 24 depots.

For the current year ending September 2014, the business expects to record revenues in excess of £60 million (FY13: £47.9 million).

Since 2005, A&A has made a number of bolt-on acquisitions to expand its proposition. Notably, in 2009, the Group acquired E&S Environmental Services and in 2011, A&A acquired AJ Bayliss Petroleum Engineers.

The business is led by managing director Mark Calvert, who joined the company in 1993, alongside commercial director Henry Simpson, business development director Henrik Pedersen, operations director Andrew Clarke, finance director James Collier and compliance director Keith Potts.

LDC has taken a significant minority stake in A&A, with the backing of senior debt facilities from HSBC.

The investment will support the organic growth of the business, development of its existing product and service offering and deliver funds for opportunistic acquisitions.

The transaction provides an exit to Spirit Capital, which invested in the business in 2007 as Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity before its eventual spin-out.

John Garner, director and head of LDC in Yorkshire and the North East, will join the board at Adler and Allan alongside investment director Dale Alderson. Garner said: “During this process we have come to know the management team at Adler and Allan extremely well, having followed the successful development of the business over the last few years.

“We seized exclusivity on the deal only a few weeks ago and have structured a deal in a short time frame that will provide the financial firepower to continue its impressive growth in a developed and growing market.”

Mark Calvert, managing director at Adler and Allan, said: “Since 2005, Adler and Allan has experienced a significant transformation and expanded to cover a range of integrated and vital environmental services to corporates.

“The financial and strategic support from LDC will enable us to drive further investment into our product development and nationwide depot network as we look to capitalise on a resurgent industrial sector and economy and take our business forward.”

Spirit Capital and management were advised by Rothschild and Walker Morris. LDC was advised on the transaction by the corporate finance team at KPMG in Leeds and a team from the Leeds office of Squires Sanders.

KPMG also provided financial due diligence and debt advice on the transaction.

LDC has now invested over £70 million to back local businesses over the last 12 months, including a fresh capital injection for Gateshead-based Express Engineering in October 2013 and its support for the management buyout of Castleford-based Stroma earlier this year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .