TSA Management’s life in Quadrant Private Equity’s stable is off to a flying start, with the group set to snare an infrastructure consulting business from ASX-listed Worley.
Street Talk can reveal TSA has inked a deal to take control of Worley’s Capital Projects Advisory team, which sits in its consulting/strategy arm Advisian.
The CPA team includes more than 110 infrastructure specialists, and will take the whole business, including the fast-growing advisory arm to a 530-person strong, $150 million-a-year unit, sources said.
Established in 2001, TSA focuses on projects in the public and private utilities and infrastructure space, and has offices in Australia, Kuala Lumpur, and Auckland and Wellington. The firm’s former clients include Sydney’s light rail networks, Inland Rail in Queensland and refurbishing Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
The Worley deal is a sign of things to come for TSA, which only formally landed in Quadrant’s stable a few weeks ago.
The Sydney buyout firm is expected to help the consultancy firm identify and seal more acquisitions over the next 18-months, to put a rocket under its growth.
It’s a strategy that worked for TSA’s previous private equity partner Livingbridge. Under the UK-based PE shop’s ownership, TSA bought Xact Project Consultants in Canberra and New Zealand-based project management consultancy Xigo.
Livingbridge put TSA up for auction in August last year, with help from Rothschild Australia’s investment banking team. This column revealed in October that the auction had resulted in Quadrant coming on board, partnering with about 50 TSA employee shareholders.
The deal completed this month, and was spearheaded by Quadrant managing director Alex Eady and investment director Chris Coates. It’s the maiden asset in Quadrant’s $1.24 billion Fund 7, raised in December 2020.
Sourced: AFR, 29 March 2021, https://www.afr.com/street-talk/quadrant-s-tsa-management-snaps-up-worley-consulting-unit-20210328-p57ep1