Sullivan Street Partners is proud to announce its exit from grounds maintenance company Tivoli Group Limited to the Nurture Group. Tivoli services both public and private sectors across the UK completing projects in grounds and winter maintenance, arboriculture, as well as interior plants and floristry.

Under Sullivan Street’s stewardship, Tivoli has comprehensively upgraded its equipment base, introduced improved customer service systems and technology and built up its extensive client portfolio. In addition, its growth has been both organic and through M&A with the bolt-ons of Sodexo Horticultural Services and Greenfingers Group to extend its national reach and service capabilities. The operational improvements made have positioned the company as the fourth largest player in the grounds maintenance and landscaping industry.

Layton Tamberlin, Co-Founder and Managing Partner comments: “In many ways this was a classic Sullivan Street deal, where we were not deterred by significant complexity on entry and were ready to roll up our sleeves to tackle the business’ operational challenges in the early years of our ownership. We know Nurture well and believe Tivoli is going to an excellent home, and will be a perfect fit to continue delivering a best-in-class service to its customers.”

Sullivan Street Partners has acquired UKAT: Private Addiction Rehabilitation & Mental Health Services after a highly complex administration and sales process.

UKAT is the nation’s leading residential addiction treatment group. Operating over 200 beds across eight residential facilities in the UK, it specialises in comprehensive care and rehabilitation services for alcoholism, substance abuse, and wider behavioural health conditions.

Sullivan Street’s acquisition of UKAT will free the business of its restrictive ownership challenges and support its mission to provide best-in-class outcomes to vulnerable patients in a chronically underserved market. We’ve forged strong relationships with UKAT’s management team and developed a comprehensive knowledge of the sector. We’re excited to begin working on our plans spanning the next five years which will include an ambitious expansion of UKAT’s facilities and service offerings.

Layton Tamberlin, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, comments: “We have deep respect for CEO Daniel Gerrard and his drive to provide the best possible outcomes for UKAT’s patients and stakeholders, and persevering through challenging periods of fraught ownership. We are confident in UKAT’s resilience, and look forward to providing the business with the necessary capital and guidance to thrive.”

Sullivan Street Partners’ Richard Sanders joined the Real Deals editorial team and industry peers for the publication’s August Value Creation roundtable at Fortnum & Mason.

Richard discussed the strategies that private equity firms can use to grow and strengthen their portfolio companies alongside Steve Butterworth from Neighbourly, Confidas People’s Bruce Douglas, Marvin Fletcher Rogers from Sage, William Gresty from BGF, WestBridge’s James MacLeay, Valerie Monk from Montagu, and GRAPH Strategy’s James Tetherton.

They covered a wide range of topics, including how to navigate organic growth, the fresh perspective private equity investors can bring to businesses, and ESG as an essential avenue for value creation. Richard provided insight into how Sullivan Street retains top talent, methods for assessing a company’s purpose and culture whilst conducting financial due diligence, and how the firm remains authentic in its investments.

We have a unique experience transforming businesses in the face of complexity and creating value sustainably whilst ensuring meaningful change and strong returns. Thank you to all of the participants and to Real Deals for inviting us to partake in such a pertinent conversation.

Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/epKk_mrt

Sullivan Street Partners offers a closer look at its portfolio company, Octavius Infrastructure , celebrating its success and reflecting on its evolution.

Sullivan Street carved out Octavius Infrastructure in 2021 from its parent company Geoffrey Osborne Group. The business had established a strong reputation in rail and road infrastructure services built on a highly collaborative, customer-centric culture. Many financial buyers would not have been comfortable with the work and risks involved in the separation. However, with a dedicated team and a clear vision, we were able to establish Octavius as a fully independent entity within nine months.

Once independent, Sullivan Street has played a pivotal role in growing Octavius’ value, setting ambitious goals for expansion, regional diversification and operational efficacy, and focus on electrification, complex projects, and impactful civil engineering.

Richard Sanders, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, said: “Thanks to our partnership, the excellent management team, and hard work across the organisation, Octavius has had unprecedented success, emerging as the only contractor in the UK to win frameworks across all four regions in England & Wales. By adding electrification capabilities and a design business, Octavius is very well placed to drive great results for its clients, keeping the trains running and the roads working.”

In 2023 alone, Octavius made two bolt-on acquisitions – R&W, a civil engineering contractor specialising in highway and engineering services, and Navitas Engineering Ltd, a railway consultant providing electrification, engineering, and design services to infrastructure supply industries.

In addition to assisting the company in its financial growth, Sullivan Street has also commited to key social and environmental initiatives. Octavius has generated over £80 million through local supply chain partnerships, partaken in over 2000 hours of volunteering initiatives, and taken on 25 apprentices. The business has also made great strides in its environmental objectives, reducing its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 27%, and is on track to achieve its ambitious goal of net zero emissions by 2035.

Richard Sanders spoke with Xhulio Ismalaj from Real Deals on the rise of restructuring as a strategy to reset various fund managers’ portfolio companies through a difficult growth environment.

The article explores the ways different private equity owners are restructuring assets that have not come to market due to the last few years of turbulent macroeconomic conditions. Richard outlines why cost-based restructuring is highly likely to increase in 2024 as an initial fix, now that some asset managers’ patience is wearing thin.

At Sullivan Street Partners, we’ve always been a long-term investor that can expertly navigate complex deals, so it was a pleasure to reflect on our experience and share our insights with Real Deals alongside Ivo Hobson from Mutares SE & Co. KGaA, and Interpath Advisory‘s Richard Harrison, David Pike, and James Fagan.

Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/exVbgMxG

Richard Sanders has shared his foresight on sector expectations in Actum Group’s UK Private Equity 2024 outlook.

With our sector-agnostic perspective, Richard comments on the industries that he anticipates will perform well in 2024, highlighting that Sullivan Street Partners has observed strong deal flow in asset heavy businesses, engineering, and healthcare. He also considers the reasons for this performance, namely that owners are wanting to derisk after facing losses during the pandemic.

We are seeing many situations where an operations-led approach is key to helping vendors and future management teams. As investors with comprehensive experience dealing with complex and operationally-intensive situations, we look forward to the opportunities that 2024 will bring.

As always, we enjoyed having the opportunity to share our market perspectives with Reporter Paul Francis-Grey and to be part of a wider discussion alongside Jamie Roberts from YFM Equity Partners, ECI Partners ’ Tom Wrenn, Peter Barkley from WestBridge, and RSM UK’s Jasper van Heesch.

Read the full report here: 2024 UK Private Equity Outlook | Actum Group 

Sullivan Street Partners‘ Richard Sanders recently spoke about one of our flagship portfolio companies Octavius Infrastructure with Paul Francis-Grey from Actum Group.
 
The article focuses on the infrastructure sector, namely Octavius’ journey since acquisition, and its ongoing partnership with Sullivan Street. Richard shares his outlook on the construction sector and how it’s proving to be a challenging area for private equity to navigate. Despite this, he outlines Octavius’ successes in winning new contracts that are supporting Network Rail and National Highways projects, as well as its most recent bolt-on acquisitions of R&W and Navitas Engineering Ltd.
 
As long-term investors, we’re excited to continue being part of Octavius’ journey in welcoming new acquisitions into the group, mobilising new contracts, and delivering several internal improvement projects.
 
It’s always a pleasure catching up with Paul from Actum Group to discuss our various avenues for value creation and sharing updates on our portfolio companies.
 
Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/edHsr3vm

Our approach to the triple bottom line: Across all companies in the Sullivan Street Partners portfolio, we require a sustainable and well-balanced approach to company strategy. Language nuances change depending on the sector and the organisation we inherit at acquisition, but the goal always remains the same: drive growth that positively impacts the interconnected triple bottom line of people, profit, and the planet.

Richard Sanders, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, shares: “I’ve faced many questions about how to make sustainable goals work, and how to strike the balance between generating profits and doing the right thing. The truth is, for the vast majority of businesses, there is significant scope to improve operations whilst also driving positive impact for people, profit, and the planet. We don’t think about them in separate buckets, but rather as a comprehensive package.”

The Wave, one of Sullivan Street’s flagship portfolio companies, was founded with the use of the triple bottom line. The company prioritised the development of a solar farm on site, ahead of the energy crisis, which has reaped significant financial benefits. During our partnership, we’ve modified customer service duties to combine positive social impact with sales responsibilities, finding common processes to make both more effective. These successes and improvements demonstrate how this set-up is an effective and simple means of ensuring balanced considerations in decision making and informing company strategy.

As stewards of our companies, we comprehensively review environmental, employee, and financial performance to develop bespoke plans for change. We consider all stakeholders in these interventions and state the impacts holistically so that, together with management, we can make informed decisions. This takes no longer than a narrow focus on profit and is simply a mindset shift.

Sullivan Street Partners‘ Zeina Bain took part in Real Deals‘ Special Situation Roundtable hosted at Six Park Place.

The roundtable discussion explored what to expect in this segment of the market in 2024 in terms of investor appetite, deal dynamics, and management approach. Whilst discussing the headwinds that businesses are faced with, we examined the possibilities these might create in the special situations space – ranging from scope for value creation, the need for more proactive ownership, and the new investment opportunities that may arise.

As investors focused on complex or operationally-involved situations, this was a great opportunity to draw on our experience working with management teams across businesses facing different challenges, and to hear what our peers are doing in this space during this eventful time.

It was a pleasure taking part in such a thought-provoking conversation alongside other sector specialists Jat Bains from Macfarlanes, Alchemy Partners ’ Thomas Boszko, Alex Cadwallader from Leonard Curtis, Tom Callaghan from Endless LLP, AURELIUS’ Tristan Nagler, and Ridgeway Capital Llp’s Ari Stavropoulos. Many thanks to Alice Murray, Taku Dzimwasha, and the Real Deals events team for organising this insightful roundtable discussion!

Read the key takeaways here: https://lnkd.in/gEZV2m5f

Sullivan Street Partners’ Investment Professional Oliver Marshall was invited to participate in BZ’s first round table on the ‘Art of the Corporate Carve-Out’. With approximately one-third of the top 20 deals in Q3 of 2023 being carve-outs, it is important now more than ever to understand their feasibility as a portfolio strategy and a means to build long-term value.
 
During the round table, we discussed the post-acquisition strategies typically employed, ways to work with existing management, and the criteria to ensure that a business can succeed post a carve-out. Given Sullivan Street’s comprehensive experience in executing complex carve-outs, we enjoyed digging deep into a topic that leverages our skillset and reflects our portfolio.
 
Thank you to Cem Yaslak for moderating and to the BZ team for inviting us to contribute. We are always keen to share our industry knowledge with our peers, and to have a candid conversation about the different approaches we adopt. It was a pleasure exploring this pertinent subject alongside Azeem Ahmed from AlixPartners, Dave Edwards from FRP Advisory, PwC’s Chris Hawes, AURELIUS’ Tristan Nagler, and Lincoln International’s Sophie Pollitt.
 
#privateequity #carveout #transformation #roundtable

Sullivan Street Partners’ portfolio company Octavius Infrastructure Limited has just completed the bolt-on acquisition of Navitas Engineering Ltd.
 
Navitas, a specialist railway consultant, provides railway electrification, engineering, and design services to infrastructure supply industries. The acquisition of Navitas, an industry leader across the UK, is a perfect fit for Octavius, which strives to bring safe and efficient transport networks to its customers and partners.
 
Since investing in Octavius over two years ago, we are proud to see the company expand sustainably, and assert itself as one of the nation’s largest infrastructure solutions providers. We are thrilled about the opportunities that will emerge from this partnership, and are pleased to welcome the Navitas team to the Sullivan Street fold.
 
#privateequity #acquisition #bolton #infrastructure

Richard Sanders reflected on The Wave’s first summer under Sullivan Street Partners’ stewardship in an interview with Paul Francis-Grey from Actum Group.

In our previous conversation, we discussed The Wave as a unique asset and our investment strategy. We enjoyed the opportunity to discuss what the last six months have presented for the inland surf park, since our last chat with Actum Group.

As strong believers of test and learn, we’ve experienced our fair share of unexpected changes, challenges, and updates. It’s always a pleasure looking back at the operational enhancements we have put into place at The Wave, our larger ambitions for the park and its technologies, as well as the lessons we’ve learnt along the way.

We’re always happy to share a snapshot of our investment strategy and the effective ways we create value.

Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e-3pt-Ni

Sullivan Street Partners‘ Zeina Bain spoke with Shivani Khandekar from Real Deals to share key insights on the potential reputational risks that private equity firms face.

In our discussion, we delved into what reputational risk means to us as an operationally-minded investor. Whether it’s going through extensive due diligence processes, setting behavioural expectations, or ensuring that communication between all parties is transparent and honest, these are all pertinent topics that are always at the forefront of our minds.
 
The key is to consider all stakeholders – staff, suppliers, customers, and broader environmental impacts ahead of going into a deal and setting the tone early to ensure the right culture in our investee companies is in place. At Sullivan Street, we always apply a personal litmus test when assessing investment opportunities as we are committed to being supportive stewards of good businesses.

Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ePdnDqQg

Our approach to bolt-ons: At Sullivan Street Partners, we believe that good integration comes from a good acquisition process. Too often, bolt-on acquisitions are treated as a mathematical and mechanical means of growing an existing portfolio company. However, at Sullivan Street, we treat bolt-ons as individual organisations, with much more to bring to the culture and operations of our portfolio company, rather than simply a vehicle for expansion.

When considering a company’s future and accompanying strategy plans, we consider the acquisition’s ethos, culture, people, and the elements it aims to preserve. We do this by having candid conversations with any new business to understand its operational strategy, as well as what the company is hoping to achieve.

Once we have successfully identified the growth strategies of both enterprises, we can then consider how to bring the two entities together. We rely first and foremost on the management teams of our portfolio companies to achieve this – we only ever embark on a bolt-on strategy once we have full confidence in said team. Beyond that, we depend on our forward-looking, pragmatic, and operational approach to help us advise management on which services should retain their differences, and which should be merged.

Layton Tamberlin, Managing Partner and Co-Founder said: “At Sullivan Street, we work with businesses with whom we truly resonate. It is of the utmost importance to honour the original management team’s hard work and retain its high-calibre staff. We do so by considering operational realities throughout the process, and by doing our best to preserve the qualities that initially attracted us to the company. Similarly, we would always advise sellers to fully grasp their buyer’s understanding of the company – to guarantee that they appreciate and respect the company’s core mission.”

Our approach to test and learn: At Sullivan Street Partners, we operate on the belief that the simplest way to achieve continuous improvement is to always try new methods of working. Bringing about meaningful improvement involves attempting to make a change, gathering feedback, diagnosing the impacts, and learning from this process.

For many of the companies we are involved in, something has halted the learning process prior to being brought into the Sullivan Street fold. From our experience, breaks in the learning cycle can be caused by complex company structures, poor role definitions, a lack of ambition, an overbearing parent organisation, or insufficient funds; all these potential causes are often compounded by difficulties in the marketplace or a disconnect with clients.

Richard Sanders, Managing Partner and Co-Founder: “Anyone attempting to make proactive and ongoing change within any company, first needs to establish a test and learn mindset. It goes back to a very simple concept that we all learn through experiment and feedback.”

KPIs and performance culture are terms often referenced by private equity, consultants, and businesses in driving value creation, but the language of metrics can be off-putting. Test and learn is more human and natural than any report a dashboard could provide. Experimenting and learning from the results is essential. Sometimes things work, and sometimes they don’t – the real failure is not trying or ignoring the impacts when you do.

Sullivan Street Partners is pleased to announce the bolt-on acquisition of R&W by its portfolio company Octavius Infrastructure Limited.

Civil engineering contractor R&W specialises in highway and civil engineering services. R&W has always been an attractive business to Octavius due to its complementary culture, service, and capabilities, making it a natural fit to bring into the Octavius fold. This partnership marks a milestone for both companies and reinforces Octavius’ commitment to growth and market leadership.
 
We look forward to seeing how Octavius will integrate R&W into the business in the coming weeks.