Altus Group has doubled its business rates practice in the UK through the acquisition of CVS for €40.3m (£36.3m). CVS is a privately-owned property tax service provider that specializes in business rates advisory services.
Altus Group paid a total of €33.9m (£30.3m) in cash on closing with an additional €6.6m (£6m) payable two years after closing, subject to certain conditions being met. On closing,€28.3m (£25.3m) was from cash on hand and €5.6m (£5m) was drawn from the revolving term facility. The acquisition is expected to be financially accretive over the course of the new revaluation cycle.
“The acquisition of CVS clearly underlines our ambition to grow our business in the UK, a market which we believe is extremely important and strategic to our growth. Bringing CVS under the Altus Group brand more than doubles our business rates practice in the UK, while significantly broadening our scale, talent resources and market share in the country,” said Robert Courteau, Chief Executive Officer of Altus Group. “It positions us well to capitalize on the growth opportunity presented by the rates revaluation that took place earlier this year and the new five-year revaluation cycle that commenced with it. The combination of our comprehensive data on joint property information will also better position us to serve our clients in appeals and lease negotiations while supporting our ongoing initiatives to modernize our offerings with data and technology.”
“Altus Group’s well-regarded market position and CVS’s large and diverse client base are highly complementary. This combination will significantly strengthen our value proposition for clients while providing a strong platform that will allow us to grow further,” commented Alex Probyn, president of the UK business rates division at Altus Group.
