The deal, which was first nurtured two years ago, is expected to deepen RSE’s strategic growth within the UK water sector and is hoped to address a wave of demand to tackle key environmental challenges across the UK.
The removal of Phosphorous from wastewater, for example, is expected to be a huge challenge for UK water companies in the next 5 years. This will increase demand for specialist, modular and large-scale chemical dosing systems to meet the need.
The two-year conversation with WES management centred around the opportunity to bring local knowledge (WES) together with large scale manufacturing and engineering capability (RSE). Envoy/RSE were attracted to WES for their range of complimentary products, their unique portfolio of temporary (hire) units, and their customer reputation in the southern areas of England & Wales.
The 2015 acquisition of Scottish chemical dosing company PSI was RSE’s first foray into M&A to support its growth ambitions. Now an integrated part of the RSE family, this business has enjoyed 400% growth since joining the company.
Investment in larger facilities, state of the art equipment and its people has facilitated this growth – introducing innovative products and greater capacity for PSI’s existing customers. The WES acquisition hopes to replicate this success, and to remove the size constraints that are currently limiting WES’ growth.
Envoy CEO Iain MacGregor commented:
“Bringing this deal to fruition after two years of discussions will be a pivotal boost to the RSE growth story. We have long admired the WES business and we are grateful their owners are trusting us to support their journey to the next level. Having owned the business for 25 years, Kevin and Bob were rightly diligent in choosing a partner with aligned principles and culture for its next growth phase. We’ve learned at Envoy to be patient in developing relationships like this, and we will adopt a similar strategy in working with the management to unlock the true potential in this business.”
The WES management shareholders will remain with the business and its brand will be strengthened as part of the RSE Group.