RSK Group Ltd, the UK’s leading integrated environmental, engineering and technical services business, has announced its latest acquisition: design, property and construction consultancy Pellings. This is the ninth acquisition that RSK, a privately owned company with 36 international offices, more than 2700 staff and an annual turnover of £200 million, has made in the financial year 2018/2019.
Pellings is a UK company of about 125 people with an annual turnover of £12.5 million and four offices in London and the South East of England. It provides surveying, architecture, planning and project management and facilities management services for housing, education and healthcare projects. It has recently worked on a new care home and day centre in Southend on Sea and the redevelopment of Enfield Civic Centre.
RSK’s founder and chief executive officer, Dr Alan Ryder, said,
“In December 2018, we announced a new funding package in the form of a unitranche senior debt facility from funds managed by Ares Capital Europe (Ares) and a revolving credit facility provided by NatWest. This will be used to finance a strategic planned doubling in size over the next few years through the development of new businesses and the acquisition of bolt-on complementary businesses.”
“Pellings is one such acquisition and we are delighted to announce our partnership with the company, a growing business that will enhance RSK’s service offering to its clients.”
Pellings will become part of RSK’s geosciences and engineering division. The company’s current leadership team, including its managing director Richard Claxton, will join RSK and continue to drive the business forward.
Richard Claxton said,
“The services we offer at Pellings are unique within the RSK group and will release significant synergies between the two businesses. Our existing client base, particularly in education, healthcare and the public sector, will provide useful introductions for other parts of the RSK group, and RSK will be able to provide several services that we currently subcontract through its internal supply chain. With the support of RSK’s national and international network, we will be able to expand our services to a wider range of sectors in a greater geographical area.”
The Ares financing will also be used to boost RSK’s international growth, including through the opening of new offices. It is currently actively investing in Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and former Soviet Union countries, and has an active client base of 7000 organisations spread across these regions. NatWest, which is the company’s primary provider of day-to-day banking facilities, was also part of the financing and provides a £15 million revolving credit facility to support the working capital of the growing group.
Additionally, RSK plans to use the financing to expand its fleet of equipment and add capabilities in its laboratories. It invests many millions of pounds annually into new tools and specialist equipment, including adding to its fleet of drilling equipment, which is already the largest collection of site investigation equipment in the UK.