Water Infrastructure Group
Background
WIG was a Leading provider of water and wastewater infrastructure solutions in Australia and New Zealand and a non-core asset for Pentair that had been acquired as part of Pentair’s acquisition of Tyco Flow Control.
Greenstone Partners was engaged by Pentair to divest the business in a compressed timeframe.
Process
Greenstone Partners conducted an extensive market sounding program that determined distinct buyer groups for the design and construct (WIG DB&M), and operations (WIG Ops) business segments resulting in two targeted sale processes involving:
- A detailed preparation phase including extensive financial modelling and preparation of marketing materials;
- A targeted buyer contact program followed by management presentations to tier-one potential purchasers;
- Actively managing a detailed due diligence process including targeted presentations on key focus areas and extensive technical diligence site visits; and
- Complex negotiation and execution of two separate transactions contemporaneously within a compressed timeframe
Result
The process met Pentair’s requirements for exit despite there being no logical single buyer for all of WIG:
- The WIG DB&M business was sold to Monadelphous Limited (ASX:MND) augmenting existing operations and providing diversification away from resources; and
- The WIG Ops business was sold to Trility Group, providing additional customers and contracts within Trility’s core operations competencies
- The vast majority of WIG employees continued in their positions and benefited from the support of larger organisations committed to growth in the water infrastructure industry