Westway bought by US company ABM

UK: Technical building services provider Westway Services Holdings has been acquired by US facilities management company ABM.

The acquisition is said to add to ABM’s current strengths in the UK and supports the company’s transformation to a solutions-driven business. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, and with annual revenues of £54m, Westway offers technical engineering services such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, electrical installations, building management systems, planned preventative maintenance, and reactive maintenance services. The company is based in South Ruislip, West London and has offices in Glasgow, Leeds, Northampton and Bristol. It has approximately 540 employees.

“The acquisition is a natural fit, in line with our long-term strategic vision, and continues our focus in areas where we can achieve higher margins and deliver greater value to our stakeholders,” said Scott Salmirs, ABM’s president and chief executive officer.

ABM is a leading provider of facility solutions with revenues of approximately $4.9bn and over 100,000 employees in more than 300 offices throughout the United States and various international locations. ABM’s comprehensive capabilities include facilities engineering, commercial cleaning, energy solutions, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, and parking, provided through stand-alone or integrated solutions.

The acquisition is seen as building on ABM’s UK companies OmniServ and GBM, recently rebranded as ABM UK.

“Westway will allow ABM to expand into market adjacencies and deliver complete solutions, including deep technical services, to our clients in the UK,” Scott Salmirs added.

“Westway has a tremendous reputation for high-quality and premium service which differentiates them in the marketplace,” said John Spencer, managing director, ABM UK. “We are very excited about the strength that Westway will bring to ABM, and are confident that they will enhance our ability to deliver integrated facilities management capabilities.”

ABM sees its tie up with Westway opening up solution-selling opportunities across the companies varied customer bases. It will also allow ABM to immediately extend Westway’s mechanical, electrical and core service lines to its current UK customer base, and cross-sell ABM’s services to existing Westway clients.

The company will continue to be led by its current management team. Westaway md Andy Donnell said: “This is excellent news for us all and means that as part of the ABM Group we can continue our success story. As we have grown we have found that our size has been a barrier to winning some of the larger more prestige sites and with our acquisition it opens up a world of opportunity. What is so refreshing for me is the culture within ABM mirrors that of our own and I know that having likeminded people will mean we that we really can build this new offering into something special.”