Technical environmental consultancy APEM buys Irish boutique
Technical consultancy APEM Group has acquired Macro Works, an Irish provider of landscape and visual consultancy services.
Having kicked off life as a small niche consultancy in 1987, APEM Group has over the past three decades grown into environmental consultancy serving clients across the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, and Asia.
While the environmental and geospatial consultancy has grown mainly through organic expansion, acquisitions have accelerated to path to its current 500+ strong team, with Macro Works the fourth acquisition in the past three years.
Dublin-based Macro Works specialises in services including landscape and visual impact assessments (LVIAs), photomontages, 3D visual simulations, glint and glare reports and landscape design. The boutique firm (10 staff) serves public and private sectors clients from a range of industries including renewables, infrastructure and commercial development.
“We have first-hand experience of the excellent work produced by the team at Macro Works and are absolutely delighted to welcome them as part of the team. Their areas of expertise perfectly complement our growing range of highly specialised services and I look forward to seeing the fantastic achievements we can deliver together,” said APEM Group chief executive officer, Adrian Williams.
APEM Group chief strategy officer, Leah McGimpsey, added: “Demand for technical environmental consultancy continues to grow and we are leading the way by constantly evolving our offering, enabling us to be a greater partner to our clients, people and the communities across which we operate.”
Dealmakers
Williams, McGimpsey and other executives involved with the deal were advised during the process by several M&A consultancies.
DSW Corporate Finance provided corporate finance advisory services, while CIL Management Consultants delivered the commercial due diligence. RSM supported the financial due diligence, BDO the tax due diligence, and Ogier Leman the legal due diligence. Meanwhile, Capital Law and Pinsent Masons supported the legal side of the deal, with Parisi Tax engaged for the tax covenants.
CIL Management Consultants, RSM, and BDO all feature in ConsultancyUK’s Top M&A consulting firms for 2023.
Sell-side advisors to Macro Works were at the time of writing not known.
Fourth deal
Earlier, APEM Group acquired GoBe Consultants (offices in England and Scotland), Aquafact (Ireland) and Woodrow (Ireland).
All four deals were closed since the arrival of private equity investment WestBridge, which took a stake in 2019. APEM Group has seen its revenue grow from £10 million to a forecast circa £60 million in the current financial year.
In lieu of further growth ambitions, APEM Group earlier this week announced it had secured a £50 million debt package as well as additional debt capacity through an accordion facility from Tikehau Capital, with an additional £7.5 million working capital facility from Virgin Money.
“APEM is a fantastic business that continues to go from strength to strength. It has earned its position as a leading player in the market, providing vital work, and we look forward to supporting the management team as it pursues further growth opportunities,” said Rebecca Sinclair, investment manager at WestBridge.
