DWEC and DWEC Europe operate in the building energy management systems (BEMS) arena, predominantly in the South of England and Channel Islands. The Group is one of the UK’s leading systems integrators and managed service providers.
Established in the early 1990s, DWEC serves a largely blue-chip client base and has carried out installations in a number of prestigious sites including Buckingham Palace the Royal Household buildings, Natural History Museum, National Gallery and the Royal Albert Hall.
DWEC Europe was formed in 2002 and has customers in niche sectors such as pharmaceuticals, data centres and European wide media businesses. The company has developed a strong international capability and regularly carries out projects across Europe.
Green Sky Energy received a £10 million equity injection from LDC in March this year to acquire Matrix Group. Matrix is one of the UK’s market leading sustainable energy services organisations, deploying unified energy services to its blue chip client base, which includes Tesco, Marks & Spencer, BAE Systems and the BBC.
The acquisitions of DWEC and DWEC Europe were funded by a further equity investment from LDC and were led by LDC Investment Directors Jonathan Bell and Jon Pickering.
The deal brings the combined group turnover to over £36 million and strengthens its international offering as well as its focus in the key markets of London and the South East of England.
Jonathan Bell at LDC said: “LDC is committed to providing high quality companies with the means to build scale organically and through acquisitions. The deal represents an excellent strategic and geographic fit for Matrix, adding more bandwidth to the group’s services as well as proven technical skills.
“This complementary acquisition also enables Green Sky to continue to meet the growing demands of its customers, who are increasingly keen to reduce their energy consumption as a result of the introduction in April of the new CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, continued price volatility in the energy markets and the growing importance of efficiency as part of their corporate social responsibility strategies.”
Ian Kelly, Chief Executive, said: “This acquisition and investment is an exciting time for us all, allowing us to scale our already unique market position and continue our strategic partnering with leading UK brands that are looking for credible, national managed energy services providers.
“The challenges of both rising energy costs and carbon reduction legislation across large property estates are really driving the market and it’s key that we maintain and further develop our service capability for our clients in both reach and technical expertise, and DWEC enhances our client services significantly.”
“Since the deal, we’ve worked closely with LDC and the additional funding will enable us to build a true market-leading presence in the energy management sector with unrivalled depth and breadth of capability and skills, both technical and operational.”
Following the investment, the Operations Board will be further strengthened with the appointments of David Woodhams, Founder and Chairman of DWEC and Darren Chenery, Director of DWEC Europe, who have over 40 years combined industry experience. Both Dave and Darren have invested in Green Sky Energy alongside existing investors.
David Woodhams said: “We are delighted to be a major part of the UK's market leader in building energy solutions. The merging of DWEC and Matrix has created a business capable of national energy service delivery to meet the demands of the new dynamic energy market”
ENDS 9 August 2010
For further information, please contact:
Martin Currie Emily Hargreaves
Citypress Citypress
T. 0161 235 0310 T. 0161 235 0320
M. 07976 291532 M. 07899 801569
E. martin@citypress.co.uk E. emily@citypress.co.uk
Notes to editors:
1. LDC (Lloyds TSB Development Capital) is part of the Lloyds Banking Group and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
2. LDC has, since 1981, completed over 400 investments and has ongoing interests in over 60 businesses across the UK.
3. LDC back ambitious management teams from UK-based companies seeking between £2m and £100m of equity for management buy-outs, institutional buy-outs or development capital transactions.
4. LDC invests in a broad range of sectors and has particular experience in financial services, healthcare, industrials, IT & software, leisure & media, retail & consumer, and support services.
5. LDC is the leading private equity company in the UK mid-market. Recent transactions include investments with 1ST – The Exchange, Ansa / Independent Inspections, Evander Group, Cranswick Pet & Aquatics, Modelzone, Nuclear Engineering Services Limited, Quantum Specials, and Snell Limited.
6. LDC has fourteen offices – Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading and Southampton.
7. For further information, visit www.ldc.co.uk