Palatine to Reinvest in Secondary Buyout at Sustainability Leader Anthesis

We are pleased to be reinvesting in leading global pure-play sustainability advisory and solutions firm Anthesis, after the company agreed a secondary buyout with global investment firm Carlyle.

Our Buyout and Impact funds invested in early 2021 and in a close partnership with the Anthesis leadership team delivered strong and sustainable growth. Revenues grew significantly, while its team more than doubled to 1,250 experts located 39 offices in 22 countries.

The transaction which has seen Carlyle take a majority stake, has generated a 6x return on our initial investment. We are now reinvesting in a minority shareholding alongside Anthesis’ management team. Other financial terms are confidential.

During our first investment, strong organic growth was supplemented by five strategic acquisitions which added international scale and further expertise to the business.

The purpose-led company now works with more than 4,000 clients including blue-chip organisations, international finance houses and governments to develop and implement impact-led sustainability, ESG and net-zero programmes and policies.

Gary Tipper, Managing Partner at Palatine said: “As an investor committed to delivering sustainable returns, Anthesis’ commitment to drive change and performance across its global client base aligns perfectly with our purpose of delivering positive equity. We’re very pleased to be reinvesting as it enters a new chapter in its growth story. Anthesis is an exceptional business with a great opportunity to build on the excellent progress it’s made since partnering with us two-and-a-half years ago.”

Beth Houghton, Impact Managing Partner at Palatine, added: “We have enjoyed a close and successful partnership with Stuart McLachlan and the Anthesis team achieving significant organic growth and five successful acquisitions, this has delivered strong impact and returns for Palatine.

“By re-investing, the Impact fund will continue to deliver on our mission of generating Returns with Purpose. We’re excited to be part of the next stage of the journey alongside Carlyle, as more organisations embrace the imperative to act with urgency to address the climate crisis.”

The acquisitions include ESG advisory firm Wallbrook and Swiss-based marketing agency Chalescannon, Canadian agri-food specialist Provision Coalition Inc and Padd Energy, a UK-based consultancy supporting the transition to low carbon.

Palatine was advised by Lazard (corporate finance), Evershed-Sutherland (legal), Deloitte (financial), Boston Consulting Group (commercial), Swan Partners (financial consulting) and RSM (tax).