TZL 1466

TRANSACTIONS ONE EQUITY PARTNERS TO ACQUIRE AMEY PLC, A LEADING, UK-BASED ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES PROVIDER One Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire U.K.‐headquartered engineering consultancy and infrastructure services provider Amey plc from Ferrovial, S.A. Founded in 1921, Amey is a top‐five contractor to the UK’s government and public sector, with a 100‐year history in engineering design, construction, maintenance, and project management of critical national infrastructure assets. Amey’s core markets are transport infrastructure and government buildings, and its competencies cover engineering and systems design, data science, analytics and digitalization and a broad range of technical and more basic contracting services. The company has approximately 11,000 employees across 200 locations in the U.K.

“Amey is a well-regarded, long-standing player in the critical infrastructure design and management space in the U.K., and we are very excited about the enhanced opportunities for growth Amey will have as an independent company,” said Ante Kusurin, principal, One Equity Partners. “We believe that the U.K.’s decarbonization efforts and net zero strategy will also accelerate growth by creating new opportunities for sustainable infrastructure.” “This transaction represents a step forward in our Horizon 24 business plan, focused on developing sustainable infrastructure to continue creating value for our shareholders, our stakeholders and the communities in which we operate. The deal practically concludes the divestment of the Services business,” said Ignacio Madridejos, CEO of Ferrovial. One Equity Partners is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology

sectors in North America and Europe. The firm seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. Since 2001, the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. Amey is a leading infrastructure services and engineering company. Amey’s 14,000 employees are behind the critical services the country relies on every day and they each take personal pride in their public service. The company’s unique engineering and operations experience, together with data driven insight from its consulting business, delivers better results for our clients. Amey is a trusted partner of government – both national and local – managing assets and complex projects that are vital to the sustainable growth of the country.

important to your value. It’s importance is linked to the firm’s ability to withstand variable economic conditions as well as survive the comings and goings of key people. It is also seen as something that can be leveraged as a means to increase future revenue growth and get better clients (and fees). “If you are an owner of an AEC firm and hope that your company or your share of ownership is going to be worth a lot of money some day, you need to constantly keep the things that can increase the value of your equity top of mind.” I could go on here but am out of space. There are a number of other ways to increase value – a great client database, historical information on the performance of your projects once built, ability to secure higher than average fees, being in the “right“ markets and locations, lawsuits or other unresolved liability claims, and more, but those will have to wait to be addressed in future articles! Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

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also assume that they can fix that through cost cutting or raising fees or other things that you haven’t been able to do. So it’s more than just a simple multiple of EBIT that your value will be based on. 3. Strength in management. Buyers want companies that have management depth far beyond the founder or CEO. This reduces their risk. Having viable candidates to succeed each of the top people are crucial. Strong people in every role, with identified successors who are being prepared to take over the roles of their superiors is a significant value addition. And believe me, all of this will come out during the buyer’s due diligence. 4. Audited financials. Having super-clean books with no co- mingling of personal expenses and business expenses is important to the risk reduction efforts of any potential buyer. They want to know that your revenue accruals are accurate, assets and liabilities are all accounted for accurately, and that there are no shenanigans that have been performed that misrepresent your true financial picture. The longer your history of audited financials, the better. 5. A strong brand. Having a company that is widely recognized by your target clients and well-thought of is

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THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 28, 2022, ISSUE 1466

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