Increasingly, major infrastructure projects around the world require environmental impact assessments (EIAs) before they can be undertaken. For the firms conducting these assessments, that represents a significant business opportunity. In February lower-mid-market investor WestBridge completed the sale of environmental consultancy APEM Group, which conducts EIAs, delivering an 11.5x multiple.
APEM was sold to Applus+ Group, a testing, inspection, and certification business. During WestBridge’s ownership APEM completed nine acquisitions, adding businesses which perform different parts of an EIA, to broaden its offering. We sat down with Peter Barkley, a partner at WestBridge, to understand more about the investment, and the opportunities available from delivering EIAs.
Barkley discusses the initial potential WestBridge saw for APEM (1:00); how the firm improved APEM’s recruitment process (4:23); the justification for APEM’s M&A (6:05); how APEM stays independent when conducting EIAs (11:03); the synergies between the companies in the group (12:53); why WestBridge chose Applus+ for the exit (14:30); and how the exit serves APEM’s growth strategy (15:53).
