Initium Corporate Finance has advised the shareholders of Veriflo on the sale of the business to Celnor, a group offering a broad range of Testing, Inspection, Certification and Compliance (TICC) services to commercial clients across the UK.
Founded in 2015, and based in East Malling, Kent, Veriflo is a specialist provider of value-added Asset Management services to the water infrastructure sector in the UK. Veriflo’s service offering is instrumental in helping its customers – including water utility companies, principal contractors, joint venture alliances, consulting engineers and water sector specialists – comply with targets set by the Water Services Regulation Authority, OFWAT.
According to Veriflo, their in-depth knowledge of the water infrastructure network in South East England enables the business to provide customers with advice and services to ensure the optimal performance of water networks during statutory works/maintenance programmes, capital programmes and infrastructure programmes.
Focusing on areas including water quality, water supply interruptions, water leakage and water network outages, Veriflo delivers a blend of desk-based and field-based advice and services. These include: asset verification and validation; strategic network analysis; clean water network risk assessment; mains isolation planning and delivery; and District Metered Areas (DMA)/Pressure Management Areas (PMA) creation, balance and analysis.
Founded in 2023, and backed by Inflexion Private Equity, Celnor is a group of complementary businesses, whose member companies provide the data, consulting and insight needed to manage sustainable development and compliance with environmental and occupational regulations. An active acquirer of specialist businesses in the TICC space, Celnor’s vision is to create a group of companies where customers and colleagues benefit from the intimacy and entrepreneurial approach associated with smaller companies, backed by the scale and ambition of a larger organisation.
Simon Parrington, Celnor founder and Group CEO, said:
“I am delighted to welcome the Veriflo team to Celnor, we look forward to backing their growth plans as we invest in both their team and capabilities. Alongside our other Safety and Compliance businesses, Veriflo helps us provide a complete service to our clients”.
Kirsty Scott, Director, Veriflo. said:
“We are proud of the success we’ve had over the last nine years and Veriflo is ready for its exciting next stage of growth. Simon’s vison for Celnor aligns strongly with what we want for the future of our company, and, most importantly, our people.”
Neil Scott, Managing Director, Veriflo, added:
“With this investment from Celnor, we’ll be able to continue to develop our services to manage new and existing clean water assets in a way that’s even more efficient, cost-effective and help our clients meet their objectives.”
Discussing Initium’s role in the transaction, Neil and Kirsty Scott said:
“During the whole process Kirsty and I made it clear to Initium that we needed future investment to take our business to the next level, which Veriflo and its people deserved. We feel that the team really understood this was not a light decision, and finding the right fit was very important. Initium supported early communications and brought more interested parties to the forefront than we had expected, this was a credit to the hard work that Jim Whitaker, Simon Glover, Rob Goulding and Jaydon Softly had put in. We felt that the Initium team were approachable, always available and at the end of a phone to ask questions or explain elements of the process in more detail.
“We would recommend Initium to anyone seeking investment or sale of their business, Jim and the team have the experience, knowledge and expertise to get you the best outcomes and, perhaps most importantly, they are supportive, friendly people to deal with.”
Jim Whitaker, Manager at Initium Corporate Finance said:
“The shareholders at Veriflo have built precisely the kind of business we love to work with: a niche provider, with proven expertise, and a tightly focussed offering. Veriflo’s services help major water companies meet their objectives under OFWAT’s AMP (Asset Management Plan) targets – making the company a business-critical provider to its committed clients.
“The utilities sector is active from a M&A perspective, and as Veriflo’s appointed advisor, Initium approached a wide range of potential acquirers and investors, generating nationwide interest. Celnor – with its track record of investment in testing, compliance, safety and sustainability companies – is the ideal fit commercially and strategically for our clients. It has been a pleasure working with our clients Kirsty, Neil and Steve Thomas at Veriflo, and we of course wish all parties the very best indeed for the future.”
In addition to corporate finance advice from Initium, the shareholders of Veriflo received legal advice from Malin Svanberg Larsson and team at Freeths LLP.
This is the latest in a number of Initium-led completions in the TICC sector, including the sale of Offshore Water Management to Normec and Evolution Water Services Limited to Phenna Group.
