- Osborne Infrastructure is a leading £210M revenue Tier 1 civil engineering and transport infrastructure business, with clients including: Network Rail, National Highways, Connect Plus and Transport for London;
- Sullivan Street Partners is a London-based, operationally intensive buyout firm with a focus on complex situations;
- Under the leadership of Managing Director John Dowsett, Osborne Infrastructure is set to maintain the strong growth it has experienced over the last four years;
- The Business is well positioned to capitalise on the enhanced public spending committed by the 2020 Spending Review which revealed the largest boost to Government investment in infrastructure since 1955, totaling £600bn over the next five years.
OakNorth Bank – the UK bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – has provided a £19M loan to Sullivan Street Partners, to fund the acquisition of Osborne Infrastructure.
Part of Geoffrey Osborne Group, a family-owned business founded in 1966, Osborne Infrastructure is a leading Tier 1 civil engineering and transport infrastructure business, with core geographies in London, the South-East & Midlands. Its services range from minor maintenance works to the delivery of flagship infrastructure projects. As a highly agile and innovative business with a focus on Rail and Highways it has built strong and longstanding relationships of over 35 years with key clients, including: Network Rail, National Highways, Connect Plus and Transport for London. Under the leadership of Managing Director John Dowsett, the business has seen revenue growth at a CAGR of 10% since his appointment in 2015. It is exceptionally well placed to continue this growth and help deliver the significant planned expansion of and investment into the UK transport infrastructure.
Sullivan Street was founded in 2010 by Layton Tamberlin and Richard Sanders to take an operationally intensive approach to complex situations in the UK lower mid-market. Within this strategy corporate carve-outs are a specific focus with five such acquisitions having been completed to date. Sullivan Street has been closely following the UK infrastructure space given the prevailing macro tailwinds and Osborne Infrastructure represented a highly attractive platform which necessitated an operationally involved approach to the carve-out from its parent. Sullivan Street will support and augment the management team to deliver their growth plan to take the business to be a leading, multidisciplinary, innovative partner for critical infrastructure projects across the UK.
Layton Tamberlin, Founding Partner of Sullivan Street, said: “We are thrilled to have acquired a business with as good a reputation and standing with its customers as Osborne Infrastructure. We look forward to supporting the management team as Osborne enters its next chapter as an independent business. The team at OakNorth demonstrated a highly efficient and pragmatic approach from start to finish, they had a clear understanding of our objectives and were able to move within very tight time constraints to execute the transaction.”
Stewart Haworth, Debt Finance Director at OakNorth Bank, commented: “For over 40 years, Osborne Infrastructure has been supporting the UK transport infrastructure sector and this deep-rooted expertise, coupled with its long-standing relationships, has enabled it to build a strong business that has proven to be cyclically resilient. The infrastructure investments announced in the 2020 Spending Review last November came as welcome news to the sector, and with the support of Sullivan Street, Osborne Infrastructure is now in a prime position to capitalise on this. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Layton, Richard and Oliver who all have specialist expertise in complex carve-out transactions, and are grateful to our advisors at Squire Patton Boggs and Deloitte for their support.”
Sullivan Street were advised by BDB Pitmans LLP; Alantra Corporate Finance LLP; Deloitte LLP; Alvarez & Marsal Transaction Advisory Group Europe LLP, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
OakNorth were advised by Squire Patton Boggs LLP.
ENDS
Notes to editors
About OakNorth Bank plc
Launched in September 2015 and founded by entrepreneurs, OakNorth Bank provides fast, flexible and accessible debt finance to the UK’s Missing Middle.
Since its launch, the bank has:
- Lent over £6.5B, directly helping with the creation of 20,300 new homes and 23,700 new jobs across the UK;
- Raised deposits from c.175,000 savers;
- Supported several hundred businesses across the UK with the debt finance to pursue their growth ambitions.
It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
Visit wordpress-test-website.oaknorth-it.com for more information.
Contact
Valentina Kristensen, Director – Growth & Communications: [email protected] / 0757 234 9009