Livingbridge exploring Network Plus Sale options

Maryna Irkliyenko and Amy-Jo Crowley
26 November 2021

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Livingbridge is exploring options for its minority stake in Network Plus, which could lead to a full sale of the utility and infrastructure services provider, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

Rothschild is advising on the process, which is in the early stages, the sources said.

The timing of the auction and the exact stake size on offer are yet to be decided, two of the sources said. The decision will be made by Network Plus's board of directors, which includes the company's founders as well as a Livingbridge representative.

Manchester-based Network Plus, which carries out repair and maintenance services for utility, telecoms, and transport asset owners in the UK, is expected to be marketed based on EBITDA of around GBP 50m, two of the sources said. Any auction process is likely to be dominated by financial investors, which are already in the process of taking a first look at the asset, one added.

Questions so far have focused on how Network Plus' EBITDA has jumped to GBP 50m, given that it was about GBP 20m a year and a half ago when it sold a minority stake to Livingbridge, one of the sources said. Network Plus had also contemplated a full sale before deciding on a minority stake sale, this source added.

Network Plus, formerly called T&K Gallagher, generated revenues of GBP 200m in 2019 on the back of securing long-term contracts with utility groups including Cadent Gas, Electricity North West, and Yorkshire Water, according to a company press release. Its latest set of accounts, published on the Companies House website in March, do not include a full year of trading.

Livingbridge bought a minority stake in Network Plus in 2020, investing via its True Minority strategy.

Network Plus bought UK-based EOS Contracting, which specialises in arboriculture and infrastructure vegetation management, and Capital Traffic Management, a traffic management provider, earlier this year for undisclosed sums.

The potential sale comes on the back of French peer Circet's sale to Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) and its management team earlier this year. Circet, which generated EBITDA of EUR 340m in 2020, was expected to be valued at EUR 3.3bn in the sale, as reported.

German infrastructure services provider Vitronet, owned by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG), is also undergoing a sale process and could be valued between EUR 800m and EUR 1bn, as reported.

Network Plus and Livingbridge declined to comment. Rothschild did not respond to requests for comment.