Fusion Corporate Partners

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of procurement and energy management consultancy Utility Masters Limited (UML) to M&C Energy Group, an energy procurement and compliance specialist. M&C Energy Group are a portfolio company of private equity business, Lyceum Capital.

Fusion Corporate Partners acted as exclusive advisers to the shareholders of UML.  Paul Kelly (pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk) led the transaction at Fusion. It is the fifth energy services sector deal completed by Fusion. Previous deals were:

• EIC sold to Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
• John Hall Associates sold to EnergyQuote
• EIC sold to Broadfern
• Encore International sold to M&C Energy Group

As previously reported on Fusion DigiNet, Lyceum Capital acquired McKinnon and Clark in January 2010 for £22 million.

This is M&C’s fourth acquisition in just 12 months and will see the Fife-headquartered company’s turnover increase to £40million. Already an established global player in cost analysis, carbon management, energy procurement, bill auditing, energy price risk management and carbon optimisation, the acquisition of UML adds further depth and breadth of expertise to the company’s existing services, innovative energy management solutions and carbon compliance. M&C now manages in excess of £6.25billion of energy consumption each year for 3,500 of the world’s largest energy users across 20 offices in 13 countries.

In 2010, M&C also acquired Australian firm Creative Energy Solutions and German consultancy ETT, increasing its international footprint. Earlier that year it acquired Encore International, a leading provider of energy price risk management services, which handles more than £2billion of procurement annually.

Dan Adler, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “This acquisition further highlights our commitment to creating one of the world’s leading energy management consultancies in M&C, with a broad range of complementary services and significant geographical reach. With a well-invested operational infrastructure, high calibre management team and financial muscle, M&C is well-placed to continue its expansion as we identify further opportunities for organic and acquisition-led growth.”

Simon Northrop, CEO of M&C, said: “Utility Masters is a well respected energy consultancy with significant expertise in supply management. This company is a natural fit for our business and supports M&C’s aggressive growth strategy. As the energy consultancy business matures, there will be less of an opportunity for smaller players to compete effectively with the services and product range offered by large international consultancies such as M&C. Our aim is to become a major global provider of energy management services and we are working on a number of further acquisitions, both in Europe and globally, to enable us to deliver on this objective.”

Following the acquisition, UML’s founding partners, Jim McGhie, Shaun McClarnon and Kevin Whaites, will join the M&C team.

Jim McGhie, Managing Director, Utility Masters Limited, said: “M&C is unquestionably one of the world’s leading energy consultancies with a strong reputation for excellence in customer services and product innovation. M&C’s global reach will bring significant benefits to our clients, many of whom require an integrated energy service across many sites worldwide. My partners and I are looking forward to working with M&C to drive forward this strong business.”

Paul Kelly, Director at Fusion, said “We were delighted to work with Jim, Kevin and Shaun. They built a fantastic business which meant we were able to run a highly competitive deal process. Even with all the acquisitions that have taken place in the energy services sector in 2010, it is still a fragmented market where even the biggest global players only have a small market share. We expect to see further consolidation in the market. Fusion continue to be active in the space in 2011”.

UK, Dunfermline and Oldham

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