Acquisitions News in the Services sector: 2006

Thu, 21 Dec 2006: Onyx Group has acquired Teesside-based Business Continuity Centres for undisclosed terms, as part of a strategy to set up disaster recovery centres on...
[more: Onyx Group has acquired Teesside-based B...]

Wed, 20 Dec 2006: Johnson Service has sold part of the business of Johnson Hospitality Services to Surrey-based Spaceworks Furniture Hire for £0.8m, and the remai...
[more: Johnson Service has sold part of the bus...]

Tue, 19 Dec 2006: Rentokil Initial has acquired the Campbell Brothers pest control business in Australia for £19m....
[more: Rentokil Initial has acquired the Campbe...]

Thu, 14 Dec 2006: Spice is to acquire ParGas, the public sector gas and heating services company with about 150 staff in London and the South East, for up to £10....
[more: ParGas]

Mon, 27 Nov 2006: Lambert Smith Hampton is to acquire Young & Butt, the property agency with 25 staff at offices in Southampton and Fareham, for undisclosed terms, ...
[more: Lambert Smith Hampton is to acquire Youn...]

Fri, 17 Nov 2006: Mouchel Parkman is to acquire the Hornagold & Hills partnership for up to £11m (Ewan Group for up to £11m, Traffic Support Limited for...
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Tue, 07 Nov 2006: St Ives PLC ha acquired large format graphics producer Service Graphics Ltd for an initial £18m stg in cash, dependent on Service Graphics resul...
[more: Service Graphics]

Wed, 25 Oct 2006: Go-Ahead has acquired Marchwood Buses, the Southampton-based bus and coach operator with 51 vehicles, for £3m stg plus £1.4m stg of net de...
[more: Marchwood Buses]

Fri, 20 Oct 2006: Cape is to acquire DBI Group, the industrial cleaning company, for an initial £12m in cash, including the DBI Industrial Services and DBI Offshore Services subsidiaries. A further £7.25m will be paid over the next two years subject to agreed targets, in cash, shares and loan notes. DBI offers specialist drain and pipe cleaning services and has 11 offices around the UK. Its customers include a number of large blue chip companies from the manufacturing, oil, pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries, such as BP, Corus and Mitsui Babcock. "The purchase of DBI Group's industrial services and offsho...
[more: DBI Group]

Tue, 17 Oct 2006: Morson has acquired Bluetec, the London-based provider of professional personnel to the construction industry with 41 staff, for a cash consideration ...
[more: Bluetec]

Thu, 12 Oct 2006: Air Partner is to acquire Gold Air International, the Biggin Hill-based private jet operator, for £4.4m. Air Partner is the world's leading...
[more: Gold Air International]

Tue, 03 Oct 2006: EFinancial Careers, the online recruitment company, has been acquired by Dice of the US for £48m. Dice specialises in technology and engineering recruitment and the acquisition will enable it to broaden its service to include the areas of finance, accounting and capital markets. Efinancial careers is based in the UK and operates in 13 countries in five languages. "We are thrilled to join the dynamic Dice team," said John Benson, CEO of eFinancialCareers. "This new partnership will provide us with a well-capitalized parent company and the support infrastructure necessary to continue to grow our leading career sites, eFinancialCareers.com and jobsinthemoney.com, in both the U.S. and around the rest of the world.", while Scot Melland, CEO of Dice commented: ""This acquisition continues our strategy of expanding into attracti...
[more: EFinancial Careers]

Tue, 03 Oct 2006: South East Water has been sold by Macquarie to Australian banking group Westpac for £665m. Westpac has purchased the group through its infrastructure and alternative investment fund Hastings Funds Managemnt Limited. The utility, which is the UK's second largest water-only provider, will be merged with Mid Kent Water, which Hastings already owns, subject to approval from the Competition Commission. South East Water serves around 1.4 million customers. Hastings Managing director Tim Poole commented: “South East Water is an important acquisition for HDF. The investment in South East Water builds on HDF’s successful investment in Mid Kent Water, providing additional exposure to an attractive asset class, and will deliver to the fund stable cash fl...
[more: South East Water]

Wed, 27 Sep 2006: Cello Group has acquired SMT Consulting, the Oxford-based strategy and research consultancy with 35 staff, for up to £8.8m. SMT's clients i...
[more: SMT Consulting]

Thu, 14 Sep 2006: Johnson Service Group has announced it is to consider a number of offers for its high street dry cleaning division. Analysts believe that Johnson had ...
[more: Johnson Service Group has announced it i...]

Thu, 14 Sep 2006: Whitehead Mann, the executive recruitment firm, is to be acquired by Palladian Investments for £26m.Palladian is a specially-created vehicle for...
[more: Whitehead Mann]

Thu, 14 Sep 2006: SHL, the recruitment services company, has been acquired by private equity firm HgCapital for £100m. SHL provides assessment tools including psy...
[more: SHL Group]

Wed, 13 Sep 2006: Ovum is to acquire Orbys Consulting, the London-based sourcing strategy and supplier selection consultancy, for up to £3.6m. The acquisition is Ovum's second since its IPO in March this year and will consist of a maximum of £3.26m in cash with the remainder in shares. £1.5m of this is subject to agreed revenue targets for the period to August 2007. Established in 1993, Orbys' client base of blue chip multinationals includes Deutsche Bank, Sainsburys and the Metropolitan Police. Ovum made the acquisition as part of its strategy to move into the advisory market for large user organisations, and is looking to acquire other specialist companies in this area. "I am delighted to be announcing our second acquisition in the past six months. Orbys is a European leader in outsourcing with a reputation for pragmatic advice and a first class client list. This acquisition provides excellent synergies and sets us on the path of establishing Ovum as a key advisor at the critical juncture between vendors and buyers.&qu...
[more: Orbys Consulting]

Mon, 11 Sep 2006: Hat Pin, the UK-listed human resources company, has acquired Alexander Mann Financial Markets, the financial services executive search company with 42...
[more: Alexander Mann Financial Markets]

Wed, 06 Sep 2006: NES Group, the Altrincham-based engineering recruitment company with 275 staff, is to undergo a £80m management buy-out backed by Graphite Capit...
[more: NES Group]