HomeServe agrees to £4bn acquisition with founding chief exec and his wife netting £495m
London-listed firm HomeServe has agreed to a £4bn acquisition, with its founder and his wife picking up a cool half-a-billion.
The pipe-fixing company has been bought out by Bidco, a subsidiary of Canadian company Brookfield Infrastructure funds.
As part of the agreement, each shareholder is entitled to 1,200 pence per share, with founder Richard Harpin’s 7.38 per cent stake his wife Kate’s 4.76 per cent share, equaling £495m.
HomeServe’s directors were advised by J.P. Morgan Cazenove, UBS and Goldman Sachs considered the terms “fair and reasonable”.
Richard Harpin, Founder and Chief Executive of HomeServe, said: “Since HomeServe was founded in 1993 with just £500,000 of capital from South Staffordshire Group, the company has gone from strength to strength and now operates in 10 countries with a workforce of around 9,000 employees.”
He said the firm “has become a world class business with an important purpose – to make home repairs and improvements easy for homeowners and trades.”
Tommy Breen, Chairman of HomeServe, said “the offer from Bidco recognises the quality of our business, our people and our future growth potential, and allows shareholders to realise their investment at an attractive valuation.”
Sam Pollock, Managing Partner & CEO of Brookfield Infrastructure, said “our acquisition of HomeServe allows us to partner with one of the highest quality companies in the sector.”