Gresham exits PIMS

Gresham Private Equity has made a 3.4x return on its money from the sale of PIMS Group, a Farnborough-based provider, installer and maintainer of water sewage pumps and drainage pumps.

PIMS, which is based in Farnborough, has been acquired by Inflexion, the UK mid-market firm and rival of Gresham. The business designs, supplies and maintains both storm water pump systems and flood alleviation systems across the UK. It also designs, supplies and maintains rainwater recycling systems, which collect water in underground tanks and then pump it back into a building to be used to flush toilets.

Gresham led a £12m buyout on December 2004, backing managing director Charlie White, and has since backed the company’s expansion, resulting in a doubling of its sales figures in three years.

It now employs 114 people, up by a third from 2004. In 2007 the company sold and installed over 700 pumping stations and provided service and maintenance for more than 5,000 residential, commercial and industrial sites. Its historic growth rates of 13% year on year are set to continue according to a statement by Inflexion.

The waste water marketplace is highly fragmented and is estimated to be worth about £725m last year, rising to £1bn when service, installation and consultancy services are added to product sales.