Two acquisitions were announced yesterday (6 January) in the UK mechanical and electrical (M&E) sector.
Irish firm Suir Engineering, which has offices in London and Western Europe, announced it had bought Scottish counterpart Taylor and Fraser.
Meanwhile, building consultancy Contollo Group acquired engineering services company Engineering Services Partnership (ESP).
Waterford-headquartered Suir said its purchase of Paisley-based Taylor and Fraser was part of an “ambitious growth strategy”.
Suir Engineering chief executive John Kelly added: “The team brings with it a wealth of mechanical and electrical engineering expertise, and an outstanding legacy built over three generations of this highly regarded family business.
“The acquisition strengthens our presence in Scotland and across the UK, allowing us to build on established local market relationships while providing a platform for future growth.
“We now have a UK presence at three key locations and have further plans for expansion in line with the multibillion pound market demand that we are seeing in our sector.”
Taylor and Fraser will continue to operate under its existing name. Suir said there would be no impact on the acquired firm’s 180 employees.
Kelly added that the firm was targeting growth in the UK.
“By the end of 2025 we anticipate that Suir Engineering will already be among the top 10 M&E contractors in the UK by revenue,” he said. “The UK presents huge opportunities in two of our four specialist sectors – data centres and energy, power and renewables – and it is one of the biggest data centre territories in Europe.”
Suir Engineering reported turnover of €429m (£355m) in 2023 and has forecast revenue of €550m for 2025.
In its most recent accounts for the year to 30 June 2023, Taylor and Fraser reported turnover of £38.4m, down slightly on the previous year’s £38.6m. Pre-tax profit doubled from £744,652 to £1.4m, though.
Acquired itself in 2022 by private equity outfit Duke Street, Suir Engineering employs more than 1,600 people across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
Scott Taylor, director of Taylor and Fraser, said the company was “delighted to become part of a thriving international engineering enterprise”.
He added: “We are extremely proud of our heritage, which has stood us in very good stead for 114 years. Our clients have always rightly expected the highest standard of services and we know that operating within the Suir Engineering group will give clients great confidence that it will be business as usual and quality of service will be maintained.”
The acquisition of ESP by Contollo Group represents the ambitious consultancy’s fourth acquisition since its incorporation in October 2023 (it has not yet filed annual accounts with Companies House).
Contollo acquired Abacus, MBA and Tace last year. The addition of ESP takes group headcount to over 160.
Established in 1997, ESP also has offices in Peterborough, Manchester and Edinburgh.
The firm is not required to file detailed turnover and profit figures, but its most recent accounts for the year to 31 March 2024 showed net current assets of £536,142 and 34 employees.
The company offers specialist engineering expertise across a range of sectors including banking, data centres, retail, industrial, logistics and commercial.
Contollo chief executive Ruth Percival said: “This partnership will allow us to combine the extensive strengths and sector experience of Engineering Services Partnership with the expertise and existing MEP capabilities of the Contollo team.”
She described the acquired firm as “a forward-thinking, innovative company with an exceptional blue chip client portfolio”.
Percival added: “We are looking to evolve the group with further acquisitions in 2025, continuing to partner with excellent businesses which share our vision to become a leading consultancy in the built environment, bringing together smart people to deliver smart buildings.”
Philip Graham-Clare, managing director at Engineering Services Partnership, added: “We’re incredibly excited about the opportunity to be part of the Contollo Group. This transaction combines our strengths and enables us to deliver additional services, increased capacity and even greater efficiency and sustainability for our clients, something we’re very passionate about.”
The UK’s top 10 mechanical and electrical firms grew their collective revenue by a fifth in their latest accounts, according to last year’s CN Specialists index.
And writing in Construction News last month, Zack Goddard, director for industrials mergers and acquisitions at financial adviser Clearwater, cited interest in M&E specialists as he predicted sustained levels of company buyouts this year.
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Greg Pitcher