The facilities management industry has been resilient during the last two years even when pandemic created a lot of disruption in the corporate sector across the globe. The FM industry was fluid with a number of M&A deals during this time. The activity picked pace in 2021 with more than 41 deals recorded in the 1st three quarters of the year. The last quarter has already seen 13 M&A deals during the current year and counting as the year comes to a close.
The most talked about deal during 2020 was the takeover of Interserve’s Facilities Management business by Mitie for an estimated £190 Million. This deal created one of the largest integrated facilities management provider having a balanced portfolio in both public and private sectors. The other notable M&A deal during 2020 was Allied Universal’s acquisition of G4S during the 4th Quarter for a disclosed amount of £3.8 Billion.
The year 2020 saw an enhanced focus on technology driven solutions as the sector looked at reducing its dependence on on-site workers owing to lockdowns hampering movement of labour. The shift to cost saving tech-solutions was already happening which got accelerated due to the pandemic.
The below graph shows the spread of deals during the last two years. Clearly there has been a dip in 2nd & 3rd Quarter of this year owing to peaking of the pandemic and then an uptick in the last quarter again which is still counting at 13 deals already.
Top Deal Makers during since Jan-2020
There have been quite a number of high profile deals in the past two years of Covid times, a number of FM players made more than just one or two acquisitions. Reconomy which is a provider of outsourced, asset light services topped the list in the M&A deal makers with six acquisitions. The transactions included acquiring of Advanced Supply chain group (ASCG), ReBound, Eurokey Recycling Limited, Reverse Logistics Group (RLG), Water Source Limited and ACM Environmental, thus consolidating position of the company in the FM Industry.
Bidvest & Noonan, part of The Bidvest Group, which is a leading provider of outsourced services including security, cleaning, technical and ancillary services in the UK & Ireland has expanded its services and footprint in the UK and Ireland in recent years through a combination of organic and acquisition-led growth, creating a significant security and facilities management business with over 20,000 employees. The company engaged in a number of deals with six acquisitions in the past two years. The acquisitions included Amber Support Solutions, Cordant Services, Ancove, Lynch Interact, Axis Group and Incentive Lynx Security.
Among the other deals Mitie, apart from its high profile takeover of Interserve, also acquired Esoteric Limited, Rock Power Connections and DEAL Ventures during last two years. Environmental and energy infrastructure specialist, Adler and Allan, also expanded its range of specialist environmental services with the acquisition of drainage experts, Jet Aire Services. It also acquired three more companies in the 1st Quarter of this year which included electrical specialists AMGS Electrical, hazardous material specialist Flotech Performance Systems Limited (Flotech) and industrial sewage specialist and underground infrastructure specialist Oneline Surveys.
Below graph shows the top 10 deal makers during the last two years, thus making this period quite fruitful even under the shadows of the pandemic.
The consolidation in the FM industry will continue in the near term as more deals will see through to make the industry agile and Competitive.