Sullivan Street Partners exits grounds maintenance company Tivoli to the Nurture Group

Arrowpoint Advisory’s Business Services sector team has advised Sullivan Street Partners – the UK-based mid-market buy-out specialist, on the sale of Tivoli, which provides grounds maintenance, interior and exterior plant displays and winter gritting, primarily for the corporate sector, to the Nurture Group.

Headquartered in Cheshire, Tivoli services both public and private sector clients across the UK, providing grounds and winter maintenance, arboriculture, interior plants and floristry. Sullivan Street acquired the business in 2018 through a complex carve-out of the UK grounds maintenance division from multinational services group ISS, and re-branded to Tivoli that same year.

Since acquisition, Tivoli has grown both organically and through M&A, with the bolt-on acquisitions of Sodexo Horticultural Services in 2021 and Greenfingers Landscape in 2023, extending its breadth and depth of national coverage and service portfolio. Tivoli has become the UK’s fourth largest specialist grounds maintenance provider.

Layton Tamberlin, Managing Partner of Sullivan Street commented: “This was a classic Sullivan Street deal. We were not deterred by significant complexity on entry and were ready to roll-up our sleeves to tackle the business’ operational challenges in the early years of our ownership. The combination with Nurture will be a perfect fit to continue delivering a best-in-class service to Tivoli’s customers.”

Layton went on to add: “Thank you to the Arrowpoint Advisory team for their support in delivering this excellent exit for our investors. Through the process we were impressed by their proper understanding of the business, track record in grounds maintenance, and deep relationships across the sector. Joe and his team ran a tight and disciplined process which helped us to hit a critical deadline in a short timeline.”

Joe Austin, Director at Arrowpoint Advisory remarked: “We are delighted to have advised the Tivoli and Sullivan Street teams on their highly successful exit. The transaction further consolidates our position as the leading adviser to the ground maintenance and landscaping services sector, following our long association with idverde in the UK and France and recent sale of social housing specialist NexGen Group to Bidvest Noonan.”

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