Capita is in advanced talks to buy commercial building consultant Malcolm Hollis.
The 44-year-old Malcolm Hollis, headed by senior partner John Woodman, specialises in building surveying, project management and mechanical and electrical engineering and advises on some of the UK’s most high-profile developments, such as Almacantar’s conversion of Centre Point, W1.
The 21-strong partnership employs more than 200 staff across 17 UK and Irish offices, generating revenue of £15.1m in the financial year to the end of April 2014.
The deal will bolt on a significant building surveying business to Capita Property and Infrastructure’s disparate real estate offering, which was rebranded in 2013 to drop the Capita Symonds name.
For Malcolm Hollis the takeover comes at the end of a period of rapid expansion that has seen the firm double in size over the past two years.
A source close to the deal said: “The Capita deal will give the group the scope to continue to grow at this rate.
“The deal has been very quick. Capita approached Malcolm Hollis, which was not looking to sell,” he added.
Capita is not immediately expected to drop the Malcolm Hollis brand. The Malcolm Hollis business is also likely to continue to be self-managed in the short to medium term. However, the sale will involve changing the company from a limited liability partnership to a limited company.
Malcolm Hollis made a pretax profit of £4.3m in the 2013-14 financial year, with the firm’s 21 partners splitting a retained profit of £2.4m.
The firm announced the creation of a new dedicated residential arm in March last year, which Woodman predicted would further boost company revenue by as much as 30% during the 12 months to 31 April 2015.
