The deal leaves Tilbury Douglas, formerly Interserve Construction, as the sole business remaining in Interserve Group.
RMD Kwikform (RMDK) is headquartered in the West Midlands and employs more than 1,300 people around the world including in its core markets of the UK, India, Australia and the UAE.
Alan Lovell, chairman of Interserve Group, said: “The sale of RMDK to Altrad Group continues the significant progress we have made selling the constituent parts of Interserve Group to best realise value for our shareholders.
“I have no doubt that RMDK will thrive as part of Altrad Group which will benefit both its staff and clients alike. I would like to thank all the team at RMDK for their outstanding contribution to the Group and wish them well for the future.”
RMD Kwikform chief executive Ian Hayes said: “We are delighted to be joining Altrad Group. RMDK will provide complementary engineering services across Altrad’s global markets enhancing services and value to its clients.
“Over the past 18 months despite the challenges of Covid-19 impacting global construction markets, RMDK has shown great resilience widening our offer by launching new products into key markets such as the commercial building sector.
“Altrad Group will support RMDK’s growth strategy built on further investment into our products, services and geographic expansion, widening the platform for the renowned world class engineering solutions we provide to our clients. Importantly, it will also lead to significant opportunities for our staff as part of a leading global industrial services group.”
Ran Oren, joint chief executive of Altrad Group said: “We are so excited to welcome RMDK to the Altrad family. We have watched and admired RMDK’s specialist engineering skills and services for many years and strongly believe in its brand, client solutions and ability to return to growth. RMDK will enhance our portfolio of products, in line with our strategy of geographic, sector and product diversification.
“Altrad is well financed with a strong balance sheet and the unwavering support of its stakeholders. We are able to provide investment to fuel the further growth of RMDK as part of a leading industrial group.”
Interserve first put RMD Kwikform up for sale in 2016, when it was more interested in facilities management than construction and needed to raise cash. RMD had long been a cash cow for Interserve but increasingly non-core; at that time it was contributing annual profits of more than £40m on £200m turnover. As Interserve plunged into financial crisis, a 2019 restructuring dumped £350m of the group’s £650m debt onto RMD. That year RMD Kwikform saw its revenue dip to £165m and operating profit shrink to £15.9m.
Altrad, founded in Montpellier, France, by Mohed Altrad, has only recently made a major acquisition in the UK scaffolding space, paying an undisclosed sum on 5th August this year for Actavo Hire & Sales. Actavo began life as scaffolding company Deborah Services. It was acquired by Irish group Siteserv in 2008 and changed its name to Actavo after its takeover by telecoms billionaire Denis O’Brien in 2012.
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