Formwork and scaffolding company Acrow has acquired an Australian formwork and scaffolding provider for $21.25 million.
Uni-span Australia agreed to the deal, which is expected to complete on 31 October 2019.
The company was founded in Queensland in 2002 and is a provider of engineered formwork systems for the civil infrastructure market, along with scaffold hire for industrial markets. It also supplies an industrial labour service to complement scaffolding hire to the energy, mining and industrial sectors in Queensland.
Uni-span has the exclusive license to distribute products form Spanish manufacturer and formwork supplier ULMA.
Acrow and Uni-span’s businesses are highly complementary, with the acquisition opening up new markets to Acrow.
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The key terms of the deal included a consideration of $21.25 million before earnouts, which is 4.4 times the 2019 financial year’s normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). An initial cash consideration of $16.25 million, comprised of $12.5 million in cash and $3.5 million in shares, funded y an expanded finance facility provided by Westpac.
A deferred consideration of $5 million is also part of the deal, payable in two tranches at 12 months ($1.5 million) and 24 months ($3.5 million). A capped earn-out payment of up to $4.3 million, subject to the 2021 financial year group EBITDA will also be included.
Acrow CEO and Managing Director Steven Boland said the company is pleased to be combining the two businesses.
“Uni-span’s product and service offering is not only highly complementary, but also provides Acrow with access to new clients and markets across the energy, mining and industrial sectors, and scale benefits across our national footprint,” he said.
“As strong evidence of this we are pleased to advise that the combined Acrow/Uni-span group has been awarded a $2.75m contract with Western Downs Contracting ( as sub-contractor to Watpac) for the provision of formwork support systems as part of the expansion of the Sun Metals Zinc Refinery in North Queensland. This contract has been secured utilising a combination of Acrow and Uni-span proprietary products. The contract is expected to commence in December 2019 and run for a period of 6-9 months.
“As an added benefit to this acquisition we are excited by the prospect of working with ULMA, providing a product range and formwork engineering expertise operating globally at the cutting edge of new developments in our industry.”