Environmental consultancy APEM Group has completed its third acquisition in 12 months with the takeover of a firm with offices in Devon and Glasgow.
Manchester-based APEM, which is backed by private equity giant WestBridge, bought Woodrow in July 2021 and AQUAFACT earlier this year.
Now it has taken over GoBe Consultants, a planning and environmental services consultancy and offshore wind specialist, in what it says is its “biggest acquisition to date”.
APEM also secured a £25m sustainability-linked finance package from Virgin Money to refinance existing facilities and fund the acquisition.
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WestBridge supported a management buyout at APEM, which employs 380 people, in March 2019. It says EBITDA has increased from £2m at investment to £8m in the current financial year.
WestBridge director Peter Barkley, who worked on the deal with Rebecca Sinclair, said: “GoBe has an excellent reputation and the services it provides are a perfect addition to the world class service offering of the APEM Group. The combination of GoBe and APEM positions the Group as a leading provider to the offshore wind market globally.
“It goes without saying, we are delighted to have supported this latest transaction and look forward to welcoming the GoBe team to the APEM Group.”
GoBe provides consultancy services to developers of offshore wind and other nationally significant infrastructure projects.
APEM Group CEO, Dr Adrian Williams, said: “This is another positive step as we pursue our ambitious growth strategy.
“The future of the renewables industry, especially offshore wind, is bright and the demand for experts to support environmental planning is strong. The services offered by GoBe are a perfect supplement to what APEM already offers. Their additional specialisms dovetail perfectly and will increase the scope of our activities for new and existing customers.”
Andrew Carson, senior director at Virgin Money said: “Virgin Money is delighted to support APEM through its next growth phase with one of our sustainability linked loans, which reduce the cost of finance for businesses like this who are proactively helping the economy transition to a more sustainable model.”
APEM was advised by Gregg Pendlington and Ross Thomas at DSW Corporate Finance; Sarah Hale and Tom Kelleher at Capital Law; and Sophie Colloby at DSW Transaction Services. Calash and BDO provided commercial and tax due diligence respectively.
