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Livingstone the Architects of £21.2m Deal
July 2006
The UK’s No.1 firm of industrial architects has been acquired by RPS Group plc (‘RPS’) in a deal worth up to £21.2 million in which corporate finance boutique Livingstone advised the vendors.
The 200-strong firm, which reported turnover of £13.6m in 2006, has grown rapidly in recent years. The business is unique in delivering integrated multi-disciplinary teams to client projects, with architects working side-by-side with engineers.
Listed group RPS is a planning and development, energy resources and environmental management consultancy that provides specialist advice and support services to a broad spectrum of clients including private sector developers, local authorities and government organisations. The group has been highly acquisitive in recent years and the Burks Green, which will become part of RPS’s Planning & Development division, will enhance the group’s activities in this arena.
Alan Hearne, CEO of RPS, commented: "The acquisition of Burks Green is excellent news for RPS. It augments the Group skills with expertise much in demand and which will ensure we remain positioned as market leaders in the Planning and Development sector. The well respected Directors of the Company will all be remaining with the business. We anticipate announcing strong results for the first half of 2006. Burks Green will help us sustain both our operating margins and growth.” Livingstone was appointed to identify a suitable strategic partner for Burks Green in March.
Livingstone partner Jeremy Furniss explains, “Given the firm’s prominence, we were confident that there would be interest internationally - in particular from America, France, Holland, Canada and Australia. However, in the early stages of marketing, RPS emerged as a strong candidate and persuaded the shareholders of the merits of doing a deal with them. I am delighted that RPS has delivered.”
Furniss adds, “There was an excellent strategic, commercial and cultural fit between RPS and Burks Green. RPS has been successful in acquiring ‘best-in-class’ consultancies and Burks Green is a clear market leader in its field. Richard and his team have been eager to continue to grow their business and RPS provides an excellent platform to do so.”
Livingstone also advised on the sale of Owen Williams, one of the UK’s leading structural engineering consultancies, to Ferrovial of Spain, in February. Furniss “The Burks Green and Owen Williams deals are part of a wider trend of consolidation within the UK’s property and engineering consultancy sector and we are confident that we will see more transactions in the near future.”
Jeremy Furniss, Partner
Tel: 020 7484 4793
Email: jfurniss@livingstonepartners.co.uk
Tom Phipps, Deal Leader
Tel: 020 7484 4717
Email: tphipps@livingstonepartners.co.uk