The deal

Kirton Water Treatment Services has been acquired by the RSK Group.

Our Corporate Finance team has advised Oxygen Partners, on the sale of Kirton Water Treatment Services to RSK Group, a global leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions.

Founded in 1969, Kirton provide water treatment and filtration systems solutions, providing an end-to-end service from design and build through to installation, service and maintenance. The business is a leading provider to the vehicle wash industry, supplying state of the art vehicle wash and reclamation systems and solutions to the industry. Kirton also supply a full range of water treatment and recycling systems to many agricultural and industrial customers, using advanced technologies such as reverse osmosis and nanofiltration to treat and recycle water.

Oxygen Partners, who acquired the business in 2018, delivered a successful operational and financial turnaround plan.  By developing the existing range of water treatment technologies, they aligned to the Kirton team’s excellence in applications engineering and built a strong platform for the next stage of Kirton’s growth.

The FRP Corporate Finance team, led by Partner Chris Adlam and supported by Associate Director Alex Hunton and Executive Cameron Robertson, were appointed as lead advisors to run a full sales process to identify the best strategic partner for Kirton, building on its existing green credentials and bringing further investment and international connections for future growth.

RSK, a global leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions, has a strong track record of growth through acquisition, bringing technical excellence into the group and facilitating greater collaboration between its 200 environmental, engineering and technical services businesses.

Chris Adlam, Partner at FRP Corporate Finance, said: “It was a pleasure to work with the Oxygen team and to find the right home for the next stage of Kirton’s growth. As focus on the environment becomes increasingly important, Kirton’s existing technology, systems and green credentials will have an important role to play in the growing water recycling and water treatment markets”

Steve Benger, partner at Oxygen Partners, said:  The journey that we have been on for the last five years with Jon West (MD) and James Brooks (Operations Director) has culminated in what we see as a perfect fit with RSK Group. Kirton’s extensive applications engineering skills in water treatment and filtration solutions can now be leveraged on a much larger scale. We wish Jon, James and the wider Kirton team every success as they move forward together with RSK.  A big thank you to our advisors at FRP Corporate Finance (M&A) and Ellisons (Legal) in concluding this deal with us”

Ellisons Solicitors and Galloways provided legal and financial support to Oxygen Partners with DWF Global advising RSK.