CET UK secures second bolt-on in six months

21-08-2019

CET UK has completed the acquisition of the Esseltest Ltd, a construction materials testing specialist based in the Midlands, with the support of Palatine Private Equity.

Esseltest provides comprehensive testing services to construction and on-site investigation projects. The firm is also able to offer same-day results for a multitude of tests, providing highly professional and prompt services through its experienced team.

CET has now completed two acquisitions since Palatine took a majority stake in the firm in November 2018. The recent investment in Esseltest – coming six months after the addition of Enverity, a geotechnical and construction materials testing specialist – is in line with Palatine and management’s growth strategy for CET, broadening both service capability and geographic reach through a build-and-buy plan.

Now in its 30th year of operations, CET provides a range of specialist outsourced services across the UK . CET recently announced the formal split of its Infrastructure and Property Assurance divisions. The Infrastructure division provides a broad range of geo-environmental and materials testing services to the UK civil engineering, property development and construction industries. CET Property Assurance looks after the Home Emergency policies for 1 in 8 UK properties, delivering a service on behalf of household names.

Richard Thomas, Head of Midlands at Palatine Private Equity said: “It has been a busy 10 months since we invested in CET and the business continues to grow rapidly, both organically and through acquisition. We are pleased to support the management team with their second bolt-on since our investment which demonstrates CET’s commitment to continuing to add additional expertise, scale and geographic reach to their growing business. We look forward to continuing to support the team with future acquisitions.”

I am delighted that Esseltest will become part of CET Infrastructure and look forward to working with Lorne McClundie and his team. Lorne is returning to CET having established and rapidly grown Esseltest and we believe that together we can deliver the best service in the industry. Our focus has always been on having the right skills available across the country and providing accurate and timely results for our customers. We continue to invest in our business to ensure we can deliver this.

Peter Eglinton

CEO, CET UK