Agathos Management, a lower mid-market private equity firm, has completed a majority investment into Simply Sustainable, a fast-growing strategic ESG and sustainability consultancy.
This presents the third platform investment from Agathos Fund II and a significant opportunity to build on the growth of Simply Sustainable across the UK and Europe.
Founded in 2010, Simply Sustainable is a London-headquartered ESG and sustainability consultancy, known for its deep sustainability expertise, delivering ESG and sustainability strategies, carbon services, ESG reporting, communications and sustainable transformation programmes.
Simply Sustainable provides services to a range of business sectors including financial services; technology; consumer; construction; infrastructure; and hospitality. The business serves its international client base from offices in the UK (London and Berkhamsted) and Europe (Amsterdam) with the high calibre team more than doubling in size over the last twelve months.
Agathos's investment into Simply Sustainable initiates a strategic growth plan to align a number of service lines and delivery channels, providing the market with an integrated, end-to-end sustainability services proposition.
The business will pursue a dual track organic and acquisition strategy with support from Agathos. The resulting group will be quality-led, providing customers with a full suite of sustainability services.
Graham Love (ex-SLR and QinetiQ), will join as group Chairman from completion, adding significant knowledge and expertise to the Simply Sustainable management team. Graham commented: "Simply Sustainable operates in a great space with significant potential for both organic and inorganic growth. I look forward to working with Nicola and her team to maximise this potential."
Whilst building an attractive service proposition for clients and meeting changing needs across multiple industries, the Simply Sustainable group will be defined by its culture and vision to become the preeminent sustainability group in the market and a destination for the very best sustainability consulting talent in the UK and internationally.
Nicola Stopps, CEO of Simply Sustainable, said: "Simply Sustainable was established with a desire to make it easy for businesses to act sustainably and create easy to follow pathways. Businesses are arguably the most powerful players in the planet's future, and we believe in positive corporate action. After a period of considerable expansion, we're delighted to announce this investment to further our work to date.
"To continue Simply Sustainable's success, we need to do it in partnership, to help us deliver the greatest change possible. We're extremely proud of what we've achieved on our own, so we know that with added strategic support from Agathos, who share our values, we'll be able to deliver even more of a positive impact for our clients, the environment and society."
Hugh Costello, partner at Agathos, said: "From our very first meeting we have been impressed by Nicola's vision for Simply Sustainable, her evident commitment to making a positive impact and by the business that she has built over the last 12 years. We are thrilled to be partnering with Nicola and the wider team.
"Simply Sustainable has consistently delivered an excellent service for its clients and has a huge opportunity ahead for growth. We look forward to building quality-led scale with Nicola and the team whilst continuing to deliver an outstanding service proposition for clients."
Katie Beck will also join the Board at completion.
Agathos was advised by Stephenson Harwood (legal), RSM (financial), Baringa (commercial), Continuum (organisational), BDO (tax structuring).
Simply Sustainable was advised by Caldey Corporate Finance (corporate finance), Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP (legal and tax).
