Private equity firm Livingbridge injects capital into TSA Management

Australian consulting firm TSA Management recently received an investment from UK based private equity firm Livingbridge.

TSA Management was established in 2001 and is a consulting firm which specialises in programme and project management. The firm comprises of over 150 staff, of which 31% is female (well above the national average of 11% in the construction industry) is spread across the East Coast of Australia with a presence in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle as well as Canberra. TSA Management’s has completed over a thousand projects for private and public clients in both the infrastructure and property sectors.

TSA Management’s CEO Andrew Wilson recently made public that the Australian consultancy firm received an injection of capital mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge. The move by Livingbridge, a company that invests heavily in companies who show potential for quick growth, is a strategic collaboration between the two parties.

UK-based Livingbridge recently opened their first office in Melbourne and the investment is the first on Australian soil. Livingbridge also recently branched out into the United States with an office in Boston and have won the Real Deals Private Equity Awards 2017 ‘UK House of the Year’ award.

Wilson refrained from making public more substantial details of the private equity firms expansion strategy but mentioned that the investment will support the firm in new sectors and geographies. TSA itself in January this year expanded with a new office in Newcastle, headed by Paul Muir, an experienced construction expert. “We look forward to capitalising on both Livingbridge's investment and their know-how to support our growth plans,” said Muir.

Managing Director of Livingbridge Australia Gareth Young, said, “TSA has built a talented workforce, specialist experience and long-standing client relationships across a diversity of infrastructure and property markets. We are excited to help them progress to the next stage of their growth.”

M&A consultancy Equiteq facilitated the capital injection between the two firms. Equiteq is one of Livingbridge’s trusted advisors for international expansion opportunities and also provides transaction support. Livingbridge and Equiteq have collaborated together on multiple deals including investments in Four Eyes Insight (the UK-based clinical consulting firm) and Gibraltar based IT services firm The Test People.

Pierre Briand, Managing Director of Equiteq Australia stated: “We are delighted that Livingbridge chose Equiteq for their first Australian investment. Not only is the TSA Management deal a milestone for us and our client, it is an example of the infrastructure boom, a growing and key sector for the Australian economy.” The transaction closed on the 1st December 2017.

Livingbridge’s Young added that, “Equiteq were invaluable in providing sector specific advice to support our investment in TSA Management.”

Equiteq in Europe were also involved last week in closing a deal between Assystem, a French engineering group and Belgian life sciences firm The Biotech Quality Group.