Carlyle Group Inc.is purchasing a majority stake of sustainability consultancy Anthesis in order to capitalize on the rising demand for expert advice on environmental matters.
People familiar with the transaction, who asked not to be named as it is a confidential matter, said that the London-based consultant, whose clients included Unilever Plc, and Cisco Systems Inc. was valued at around £400 million ($508m). According to a Friday statement, existing shareholder Palatine Private Equity and some Anthesis employees will retain a minor stake.
According to a statement that did not disclose financial details, Carlyle purchased the stake via its Carlyle Europe Partners Platform.
Mark Dale said, in an interview, that Anthesis was a company that met the investment criteria of the Carlyle Europe Partners team. “Our goal is to intensify the growth and expansion plans of the company,” Mark Dale, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Partners investment team said in an interview.
According to its website, Anthesis was founded by Stuart McLachlan as Chief Executive Officer in 2013. It advises businesses and governments on a range of issues including achieving net zero goals to food waste and climatic risks. The company employs 1,250 people in 39 offices across 22 countries, and serves more than 4,500 clients. Since its founding, the company has acquired 18 additional companies.
Meg Starr said that Anthesis can help Carlyle, a Washington-based buyout firm, with its investment portfolio, which includes more than 250 global companies.
Starr stated in an interview that “a number of our portfolio firms are already clients of this company and we anticipate leveraging their expertise across the entire firm.”
Investors are increasingly pressuring companies to focus on sustainability. This has led to a strong interest among private equity firms and strategic buyers for specialist consultancies. WSP Global Inc. purchased the built-environment consultancy business of John Wood Group Plc for $1.8 billion last year, and KKR & Co. has agreed to purchase sustainability consulting firm ERM Group Inc. for approximately $2.7billion in 2021, including debt.