Ardian arranges £50m unitranche ton refinance Lyceum's Bellrock and fund acquisition plan

Bellrock was formed in 2000 as SGP Property Services. It provides facilities and property management, and other associated services, to a large blue chip customer base spread across a broad range of sectors and disciplines, including education, healthcare, and retail & leisure, in both the public and private sectors. Backed by Lyceum since 2013, the company has been a leading player in the technology-enabled service management space. 

Profile, jointly based in Bedford and York, is the UK’s leading service charge expert, and currently manages £250 million service charges per annum on behalf of its corporate clients in the retail and leisure sector. Profile's services add to the corporate occupier offering provided by Bellrock, following last year's acquisition of Property Solutions. Bellrock is now the leading independent provider of service charge management to corporate occupiers in the UK, making it the partner of choice for all tenant service charge requirements. 

Following five successful add-on acquisitions in 2016, completed together with investor Lyceum Capital, this latest acquisition is the single biggest investment to reinforce Bellrock's technology-driven facilities management and property management service offering. Bellrock’s acquisition strategy will be further supported in the future by Ardian through committed and uncommitted financing facilities. 

Olivier Berment, Co-Head of Ardian Private Debt and Managing Director, said: “Bellrock is an innovator in its sector with its focus on tech-enabled services to support the property management needs of its commercial customers.  Add-on acquisitions will continue to form a key part of Bellrock’s growth strategy, so we are excited to offer flexible financing to enable this, and help the team realise its ambitious growth plans.”

David Smith, CEO, Bellrock, added: “Profile is a highly skilled outfit and a perfect fit for Bellrock, which now has a reputation as the leading tech-enabled facilities management and property services provider in the UK. We are delighted to bring Ardian on board as a new partner to help drive our ambitious growth strategy, as we continue our organic expansion as well as acquiring additional businesses that further complement our product suite.”

Adam Lewis, Investment Director at Lyceum Capital, added: “The last 12 months have been transformational for Bellrock. During this time David and the team have successfully created a market leader in property and facilities management.  We continue to see huge potential for the business.”