6 February 2012
OCS Group has picked up Fountains' US business only days after announcing acquisition of its UK assets from the administrators.
The US deal covers Fountains America and its subsidiaries Fountains Forestry, Fountains Land and Fountains Spatial.
“The acquisition of Fountains America adds market-leading forest management, land brokerage and geo-spatial technology capabilities to our portfolio,” said Martin Gammon, managing director of OCS Group UK.
“OCS has a long history of service excellence and will ensure that Fountains’ customers continue to receive the same high service standards.”
Fountains America provides complete forest management, land brokerage and geographic information system (GIS) services throughout the US and worldwide.
Fountains Spatial provides geographic information systems enabling clients to understand the value of a location using geo-spatial technology.
OCS Group is a privately-owned international support services company offering catering, security, cleaning, engineering, horticulture, hygiene, waste management and pest control. It employs 56,000 people worldwide.
Last month, OCS announced it had bought Fountains Environmental, Fountains Limited, Fountains Forestry and Fountains Support Services.
Fountains services include grounds maintenance, street cleaning, landscaping, arboriculture and waste management, as well as forestry and land management.
More than 1,500 jobs have been saved, but some 450 redundancies are likely, according to administrators BDO.
Fountains was founded in 1957 as a forestry management firm and grew over the years to become a diversified environmental services group, with contracts in the US.
UK contracts have included waste management, fly-tipping enforcement and vegetation clearing with local authorities. Fountains also works with utilities companies, clearing land along power lines and around energy generating stations.
In 2009, Fountains was bought for £13 million by ill-fated social housing provider Connaught, and it became Connaught Environmental, with revenue of around £50 million.
The future of Fountains hung in the balance after Connaught went into administration in September 2010. Construction and support services group Kier was initially interested.
Fountains/Connaught Environmental continued to trade until it was bought in March last year by a group of financial institutions, including the Royal Bank of Scotland and Alchemy Partners.
A statement from administrators BDO said Fountains employed more than 2,000 staff and some redundancies were unavoidable. “1,570 Fountains Group employees will transfer to OCS Group as part of their purchase of the business, but regrettably, it has been necessary to make 446 employees redundant,” the statement said.
"A sale of Fountains Group was the best option to secure the future of the business, which has been exposed to the difficult economic climate,” said Tony Nygate, BDO business restructuring partner. “This announcement enables the business to move forward confidently and on a secure financial footing.”
Other news for Monday, 6 February 2012
OCS moves on to Fountains' US divisions
Interserve appoints head of prison services
Lloyd’s of London picks Principle
LSE appoints Resource Group
Contracts round-up
FM World launches 2012 Salary Survey
FM World Blog: Follow the leader
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