Triton Partners takes majority stake in Unica

Structured as a leveraged buyout, the transaction orchestrated by Triton Partners secures a majority shareholding in Unica, officially bringing the technical services provider into its European portfolio. The definitive agreement, finalized in October 2017, establishes a collaborative ownership framework alongside the historical founding van Vliet family, who actively retain a significant minority stake as an anchor investor. To ensure absolute operational continuity following the change in corporate control, the existing executive management team, specifically Chief Executive Officer John Quist and Chief Financial Officer Bert Moser, maintain their leadership positions under the new institutional sponsorship. At the time of this capital restructuring, the acquired technical platform demonstrated strong financial performance, generating annual revenue of $250–500M and an EBITDA of $10–30M during the fiscal year preceding the transaction. The financial architecture required to fund this majority acquisition was arranged with the direct assistance of Oaklins Netherlands. Acting as the exclusive debt advisor for Triton Partners, the van Vliet family, and the management team, the advisory group, led by partner Bas Stoetzer in Amsterdam, successfully structured the necessary funding packages. Strategically, this capital injection empowers Unica to aggressively pursue consolidation opportunities within the highly fragmented Dutch installation sector. Driven by increasing technical complexities and widespread succession challenges across the industry, the newly backed platform immediately initiated a targeted buy-and-build strategy. This external growth mandate resulted in the rapid integration of three specialized regional operators: Nijmeijer Koeltechniek, Schoonebeek Klimaattechniek, and the installation firm Van der Laan. The latter transaction specifically integrated 120 additional employees into the group, with director Colin van der Laan retaining a direct equity stake in his entity. Through this active financial sponsorship provided by Triton Partners, the newly capitalized holding company projects a rapid acceleration in consolidated sales volumes, directly capitalizing on the surging institutional demand for sustainable energy systems.

By taking control of Unica, Triton Partners continues its expansion strategy. Previously, the group had completed 3 acquisitions, including Kelvion in 2014.