In an announcement which has been predicted for several weeks, Rentokil Initial today (14 February) announced the acquisition of the services division of Santia Group, previously known as Connaught Compliance.
The deal involves a cash consideration of £5.6 million with up to an additional £3 million depending on various post closing adjustments. The acquisition is effective immediately and is expected to generate annualised revenues of £24 million say Rentokil in their press release.
Santia’s services division consists of three business units – Fumigation & Pest Control; Water Treatment & Hygiene and Fire Safety & Prevention.
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Pest control will be merged with Rentokil’s UK pest business.
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Water will be merged with Rentokil’s existing UK water hygiene business within the Initial Facilities Services (IFS) division.
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Fire will form a separate business unit within the IFS division.
Rentokil state that their immediate priorities will be to deliver excellent service to their new customers and to engage with the 430 colleagues who will join us the company as a result of this acquisition.
News of this deal has been rumbling around the industry for several weeks. On 1 February 2011, KPMG, administrators, sealed a deal with Better Capital, the private equity house founded by venture capitalist Jon Moulton, to acquire more than half of Connaught’s compliance division, reported the Financial Times. Click here for further details.
This announcement brings to an end, as far as pest control at least is concerned, the whole sorry Connaught/Santia tale.
The new Santia branding must be one of the shortest lived within the pest control industry. It was only revealed on 1 December 2010 along with their upbeat corporate speak – as reported by Pest– click here for details.
Bye, bye……….
