Souter is delighted to partner with Buckthorn Partners, a UK private equity investor focusing on energy transition, in its investment into Cardo Group and the group’s first acquisition of LCB Group.
LCB Group is a leading service provider to the social housing sector providing repairs, maintenance and retrofit works for local authorities and housing associations. A long-established market leader in Wales, LCB has extended its operations into England, with offices in Bristol, Exeter and the Home Counties. LCB currently employs 300+ staff across its 5 regional hubs and is expected to hire more people as it continues expanding into Southern England.
As part of the investment, Liam Bevan, the managing director of LCB, will take on the Cardo Group CEO role with support from Jane Nelson, an industry veteran with experience in Mears and Kier, who will lead commercial and strategic activity within the group. Rhydian James, will continue to lead operations within LCB and be joined by a new regional director appointment for Bristol.
LCB marks the first investment in a strategy to develop a national footprint in building maintenance under the Cardo Group brand name. The UK government’s ongoing commitment to net zero by 2050 will underpin significant growth in spend for this sector given the 5 million social housing units across the country. In addition to geographical expansion, the business plan envisions an extension of current services to capture energy efficiency measures as well as using targeted M&A to build scale and realise operational synergies.
Calum Cusiter, Managing Director at Souter Investments, commented: “We are pleased to be a part of Buckthorn’s latest investment. Cardo Group will be at the forefront of delivering critical upgrades to the UK’s built environment which will make a material contribution to the UK’s carbon reduction efforts. LCB’s proactive approach to repairs and maintenance speaks to their excellent track record in customer retention and revenue growth. We look forward to seeing further upside driven by the recent investment from Buckthorn and their strategic insight alongside Liam and his impressive leadership team.”
This deal follows Buckthorn’s recent partnership with One Equity Partners to acquire Amey, one of the UK’s leading infrastructure services and engineering consulting companies. The transaction completed in December 2022 – see more details here.
Please refer to the official press release for more details.