Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Driven by African group Excellerate - Templewood acquires LCC

Templewood Services, a leading services company supplying cleaning, hygiene, washroom and security services to blue chip clients across the UK, has this week announced the acquisition of LCC Support Services, one of the UK's largest independently owned national contract cleaning specialists.

The acquisition brings together two big names in the industry - Harvey Soning (right of picture), chairman of Templewood Services and Bob Vincent (left of picture), who will become non-executive chairman of LCC. Both Harvey and Bob will continue to be actively involved in the business for the foreseeable future.

The acquisition combines two businesses that together have a turnover of £40 million and employ approximately 3,000 colleagues, across the UK supplying specialist soft-FM services into over 800 clients and at more than 1,000 separate locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Templewood Services was founded in 2000 by Harvey Soning and in June 2017, Excellerate Services, a major African property services company operating extensively across sub-Saharan territories and with its head office in Johannesburg, South Africa - acquired a majority stake in Templewood Services. Since that acquisition, Templewood has focused on implementing Excellerate's technology platforms, as well as integrating extensive Intellectual Property, to deliver a more improved, transparent and efficient service to its clients.

Founded in 1997 by Bob Vincent, LCC has flourished over the past 21 years to stand now as one of the fastest growing single-service specialists in the FM sector.

Merging its UK operations will provide a substantial foundation for growth, as well as the opportunity to harness multiple best practices & industry-leading innovation, as the enlarged company builds upon its significant strength in FM-partnering and its client base in the corporate built environment, high-end retail, property management, education and manufacturing sectors.

"Having known of Bob's reputation in the industry for many years I was delighted when the suggestion was made to merge our businesses to provide an even better service to all our major clients throughout the UK," revealed Harvey Soning. "Our relationship has grown very strong through the negotiations which I know will benefit both of us and our new parent Excellerate in the future."

Bob Vincent is very pleased with the acquisition, saying: "Templewood Services has a similar ethos and business ethic to what I have strived for over the past 21 years, and as such was a perfect fit," he said. "I look forward to being involved in the business going forward."

Commenting, Gordon Hulley, CEO of Excellerate, said:

"I am extremely pleased with the LCC transaction. The company's reputation for quality services and highly skilled staff under the leadership of Bob Vincent compliments our initial acquisition of Templewood. Furthermore, the transaction strengthens our positioning in the UK, and provides the ideal platform for further organic and acquisitive growth."

Excellerate entered the UK Market with the Templewood acquisition just over a year ago with the announcement of its intention to develop a major presence through organic growth and by acquisition.

At that stage, Excellerate operated across 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East, employed approximately 20,000 people and provided integrated services such as security, cleaning, hygiene and pest control, and precinct management. Its client base includes multinational corporates, public sector organisations, developers, funds, institutions and private investors.

www.templewoodcleaning.com / www.lccss.co.uk

7th June 2018