UK’s Serco Group completes acquisition of Australia’s Facilities First

UK-based service company Serco Group has completed the acquisition of Facilities First, one of Australia's leading privately owned and operated cleaning, maintenance and facility management company.

Agreed before Christmas and approved by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board last month, the deal sees Serco’s Australian subsidiary, Serco Group Pty Limited take over Facilities First Australia Holdings Pty Limited for a reported sum of $76.5 million.

A specialist provider of cleaning, facility maintenance and management services to government, over 80% of Facilities First’s its revenues come from long-term government contracts - with the company having an order book of around $434 million. Its 2,500 employees and experienced management team bring to Serco new skills and reach in government facilities management, which is expected to see a significant amount of bidding opportunities in the coming years.

Facilities First’s revenue for the year ended June 2020 was $282 million with an Underlying Trading Profit of around $11 million.

Commenting on the acquisition, Serco Group Chief Executive, Rupert Soames stated “this acquisition adds expertise and heft to our facilities management operations in Australia, while retaining our government focus.

“The combination of Serco and Facilities First will enable Serco Australia to target a significant pipeline of new opportunities which we expect to mature in the next few years. We welcome the employees and management of FFA as they join Serco and look forward to working with them as we further grow our Australian business.”