LDC takes majority stake in Stonbury

LDC acquired Stonbury in December 2022, at an enterprise value of £20–50M representing an EV/EBITDA multiple of 5x–12x on the year to June 2022. Chief executive Colin Perry-Davis remained at the head of the business with his management team. Headquartered in Bedfordshire, Stonbury maintains, repairs and refurbishes the structures through which water is stored and treated: reservoirs, service tanks, treatment works and wastewater plants. It inspects and cleans them, extends the life of ageing concrete and steel, and carries out river and habitat restoration. It employed 281 people and recorded an EBITDA of £5–25M. Work of this kind is awarded under framework agreements running several years, of which the company held 25 at the time of the investment. Those frameworks give the activity its visibility, since the water companies awarding them operate under five-year regulatory settlements specifying the investment they must make, which fixes the volume of work several years ahead. Refurbishment competes with replacement. A treatment works whose concrete has deteriorated can be rebuilt or repaired, and repair costs less and emits a fraction of the carbon, which matters to utilities measured on both counts. Regulatory pressure on leakage and on sewage discharges has increased the investment British water companies must make in assets largely built decades earlier, and LDC’s capital was directed at recruitment, at widening the range beyond clean water and at acquisitions. Over the following four years the company acquired Panton McLeod, extended into wastewater and environmental work, and grew revenue by 74% with headcount reaching 443 across ten locations, before LDC brought in Federated Hermes as co-investor in September 2026.

By taking control of Stonbury, LDC continues its expansion strategy. Previously, the group had completed 2 acquisitions, including Acora in 2022.