T&C Services Pty Ltd has been acquired by ATIVO Pty Ltd

February 2014 — Thomas & Coffey Limited, provider of maintenance and construction services to the industrial and mining sectors throughout New South Wales and Queensland, has sold T&C Services Pty Ltd (T&C) to ATIVO Pty Ltd (ATIVO) for US$30.15 million.

T&C Services is a specialized maintenance services provider with a strong presence in New South Wales and Queensland servicing a blue chip client base.

In October 2012, following 18 months of difficult trading conditions, Thomas & Coffey was approached by a major construction group with an indicative merger proposal. At the same time, two other substantial companies approached Thomas & Coffey, including SKILLED Group Limited (SKILLED). The indicative merger proposal was later withdrawn for reasons not connected to Thomas & Coffey who re-engaged with SKILLED resulting in a transaction being announced some 7 months later pursuant to which ATIVO, the wholly owned maintenance services subsidiary of SKILLED, would acquire T&C and would take over the 650 T&C employees.

ATIVO Pty Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of SKILLED Group Limited (SKILLED), Australia's largest provider of workforce services. Mick McMahon, CEO of SKILLED, said in his market presentation “the acquisition of T&C allows SKILLED to build scale in attractive higher skill and higher margin segments, consistent with our strategy to build scale in growth sectors."

Our role in the transaction

Oaklins' team in Australia advised Thomas & Coffey in this transaction.