Press Room
Mitie Group PLC agrees takeover of EPS PLC
MITIE Group PLC ("MITIE") today announces an agreement to take
over the entire share capital of Environmental Property Services
plc ("EPS") from Uberior Holdings Ltd, the EPS senior management
team and Alchemy Partners. The total consideration will be up to
£38.5m on a cash and debt free basis. £35m will be paid in cash on
completion and the balance will be paid in cash pro rata on a
sliding scale based on achieving a minimum level of earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year ending 31
March 2010, capped at a maximum additional payment of £3.5m.
The statutory accounts of EPS for the year ended 31 March 2009
showed revenues of £79.3m, consolidated operating profit (before
amortisation of goodwill and depreciation) of £4.5m and profit
before tax of £2.4m. Gross assets of EPS were valued at
£26.9m.
"The acquisition will give MITIE a strong hub in the South East
Social Housing market from which to expand and the ability to cross
sell existing services and products to EPS's public and private
clients. This should be particularly beneficial for public sector
clients who are looking for "bundled services" to reduce
procurement costs in the current economic environment" commented
David Brooks, Corporate Finance Partner at Grant Thornton, which
advised the shareholders of EPS.
"MITIE were selected following a highly competitive auction process
which included a number of strategic bidders as well as private
equity sponsors. MITIE provided speed and certainty in deal
completion due to their strategic acquisition rationale and funding
position. It was our recommendation to the Shareholders including
Bank of Scotland and Alchemy Partners that MITIE was the most
suitable partner," commented Usman Malik, Associate Director and
Support Services specialist at Grant Thornton.
Peter Griffin, who will be continuing in his role as Managing
Director of EPS added, “We are really pleased to be joining MITIE.
We share the same focus on client satisfaction, delivering
innovative services and looking after our greatest assets, which
are our people. We look forward to collectively building a leading
social housing business.”
MITIE, which is publicly listed and part of the FTSE 250, is
the leading UK-based provider of management and consulting services
for the property sector. This acquisition increases MITIE’s total
social housing business to over £200m annualised revenues.
EPS is an award winning, property installation and maintenance
services provider to both the public and private sector, employing
over 650 people and servicing over 300,000 homes across the South
East.