As part of Amey plc’s strategy to focus on its core divisions of consulting, transport infrastructure, and secure infrastructure, Amey sold its utilities division to Rubicon Partners, now branded as Avove.
Avove was heavily integrated within Amey’s shared service infrastructure including IT, finance, HR, HSE, procurement, supply chain, fleet and plant and legal. In addition to extensive central services, Avove shared a number of Amey group systems including highly customised SAP, as well as IT infrastructure, and a large number of Amey-wide supplier contracts were utilised by the Utilities business.
We worked closely with Amey and Avove management to prepare for bidder due diligence and deal execution, including financial vendor due diligence, separation planning, and valuations support.
A combination of our operational and financial support helped Amey to identify any material items impacting deal value and timetable up front, before engaging with bidders, enabling appropriate mitigation. We also provided bidders with sufficient visibility to allow them to get comfortable with a complex carve out, mitigating their perceived risk, and ultimately helping to optimise deal value.
We helped the Avove management team to prepare the business to operate independently from Amey, enabling a smooth navigation through deal signing and completion.
The Grant Thornton carve out team was key in helping secure a positive outcome on what was a significant and highly complex transaction. The divestment of our utilities business was an important strategic priority, and Grant Thornton's support across the full carve out process was first class throughout. The team quickly built relationships and got up to speed on the various components of the transaction, and brought genuine industry expertise to the table to help plot our way through the challenges. Grant Thornton's experience, knowledge and advice was critical in the execution of this transaction.
Jack Garnett Amey plc, Head of Strategy
