The vacant property contractor SitexOrbis is under new ownership. After almost two years of uncertainty during a Competition Commission process, SitexOrbis has as new owners a consortium of private individuals.
The investment was completed in February 2013.
Since the acquisition, the new board, led by chairman Sir Robin Miller, has restructured. Senior directors and management including former CEO David Walker, and his direct reports, have left the business and the new owners are taking an active role in running the company. SitexOrbis says that it has always been, and will continue to be, a regional business with local relationships to customers. As part of this restructure the regional directors report directly into the board. One of the new owners, Layton Tamberlin is acting as Managing Director and Richard Sanders as Development Director.
Layton Tamberlin said: “We see an enormous potential in SitexOrbis which has been constrained over many years by corporate uncertainty. We hope to unlock that potential by bringing stability and clarity to the business. SitexOrbis has a very strong local and regional network with relationships and quality of service unparalleled in the industry. By building on these strengths and ensuring the whole business is aligned and structured for growth, we will reinforce SitexOrbis’s position as the leading player in vacant property services, delivering on its promises through its 30 years’ experience, and a significant force in security and facilities management overall.”
SitexOrbis was acquired by competitor VPS, in 2011. The acquisition was then referred to the Office of Fair Trading in March 2012, and then on to the Competition Commission. The commission announced in August 2012 that it had not approved the acquisition as it felt the move could harm competition in the UK.
About SitexOrbis
SitexOrbis provides a vacant property service for commercial property and social housing from securing the property with barrier screens and cleaning and clearing it of debris, to monitoring it with battery-powered video alarms. Services are backed up by Aura, SitexOrbis’s web-based workflow system. SitexOrbis’s in-house Alarm Response Centre monitors alarms and supports lone worker and out-of-hours services.
In the UK the company protects more than 50,000 properties as well as 10,000 lone workers, cleans 20,000 properties annually and provides infection control, long-term mould eradication and access control. The company generates a combined turnover of in excess of £30m and employs more than 500 people.
