UK private equity firm invests in Australian consultancy TSA Management

11 December 2017 Consultancy.uk

TSA Management, an Australian consulting firm, has received an investment from Livingbridge, a UK based private equity firm with offices in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Established in 2001, TSA Management is a consulting firm that specialises in programme and project management. The company’s team of over 150 staff, of which 31% is female (well above Australia’s 11% construction industry average) is based across East-Coast Australia with a presence in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra. TSA Management’s track record includes over 1,000 projects completed for private and public clients in the infrastructure and property sectors.

Last week Andrew Wilson, the CEO of TSA Management, unveiled that the Australian consultancy has received a capital injection from UK’s Livingbridge, a mid-market private equity firm that invests in fast-growing companies. The strategic collaboration between the two parties comes a year after Livingbridge expanded into Australia with the opening of a Melbourne office and marks its first investment in the country. The investor, which recently year won the ‘UK House of the Year’ award at the 2017 Real Deals Private Equity Awards, has since also branched out to the US (based in Boston).

TSA Management

Wilson said the investment will be used to support the firm’s expansion into new sectors and geographies, while refraining from revealing more concrete details of the strategic plan. In its latest expansion, TSA Management opened a new office in Newcastle, Australia, in January this year, headed by the experienced construction expert Paul Muir. “We look forward to capitalising on both Livingbridge's investment and their know-how to support our growth plans.”

Highlighting TSA’s attraction to Livingbridge, Gareth Young, Managing Director of Livingbridge Australia said, “TSA has built a talented workforce, specialist experience and long-standing client relationships across a diversity of infrastructure and property markets. We are excited to help them progress to the next stage of their growth.”

The deal between the two parties was facilitated by the UK and Australian offices of Equiteq. The M&A consultancy for the professional services industry is one of Livingbridge’s trusted advisors for targeting opportunities and transaction support, having previously worked together on investments such as Four Eyes Insight (a UK based clinical consulting firm) and The Test People (an IT services firm based in Gibraltar).

Commenting on the transaction, which closed on the 1st December 2017, Pierre Briand, Managing Director of Equiteq Australia said: “We are delighted that Livingbridge chose Equiteq for their first Australian investment. Not only is the TSA Management deal a milestone for us and our client, it is an example of the infrastructure boom, a growing and key sector for the Australian economy.”

Livingbridge’s added, “Equiteq were invaluable in providing sector specific advice to support our investment in TSA Management.”

Meanwhile, in Europe, Equiteq also closed a deal between French engineering group Assystem and Belgian life sciences firm The Biotech Quality Group last week. Equiteq served as the exclusive advisor for The Biotech Quality Group.