Press Release: Sullivan Street exits civil engineering and transport infrastructure business Octavius to RSK Group

Sullivan Street Partners, a UK based mid-market buyout specialist, announces its sale of Octavius Infrastructure Limited, one of the UK’s leading civil engineering and electrification transport infrastructure businesses, to RSK Group.

Octavius employs more than 700 people working across rail and highways and has longstanding relationships with key customers in the sector, including Network Rail, National Highways, Transport for London and numerous local authorities.

Sullivan Street acquired Octavius in September 2021 in a carve-out transaction from Geoffrey Osborne. Following the acquisition, Sullivan Street established Octavius as a standalone business, rebranding under the Octavius name and building new back-office functions across HR, IT, Finance and Sustainability.

Under Sullivan Street’s ownership, Octavius has been led by an excellent management team who have overseen a period of significant growth and transformation. The business has evolved from a predominantly regional contractor in the South of England into a national player, with group revenue increasing from approximately £200m to £350m over four years.

This organic growth has been augmented by two add-on acquisitions under Sullivan Street’s stewardship; namely the purchase of R&W Civil Engineering (now trading as Octavius Regional Civil Engineering), and Navitas Engineering, an electrification design and consultancy specialist.

The sale to RSK Group represents a significant landmark for Sullivan Street and a successful conclusion to its journey with Octavius. RSK provides a strong long-term home for the business and it will support the current management team as they lead Octavius through its next phase of growth.

Layton Tamberlin, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Sullivan Street: “Our journey with Octavius has been a fantastic one. From carving out the business, to executing the organic growth plan and adding additional capabilities through add-ons, the business has been transformed into a national player of considerable scale. It has been a pleasure working with this excellent management team throughout our ownership and we have every confidence that Octavius will continue to thrive as part of RSK Group.”