United Infrastructure acquired by Apollo Global Management

Apollo Global Management entered into an agreement on 30 May 2023 to acquire United Living Group from Elysian Capital, investing through its impact platform, at an implied enterprise value of £300–700M representing an EV/EBITDA multiple of 10x–18x on adjusted EBITDA of £25–50M for the year to March 2023. Press reports at the time placed the valuation above 300 million pounds. Completion was expected during the summer, and founder, chairman and chief executive Neil Armstrong remained at the head of the group. United Living Group maintains and renews utility networks and social housing across the United Kingdom, operating through three divisions. Its infrastructure business lays and repairs water mains, gas pipes and telecommunications networks for the companies operating them; its property services division carries out repairs, refurbishment and safety works on homes owned by housing associations and local authorities; and its new homes business constructs affordable and build-to-rent housing. The group employed more than 1,000 people and worked with over 2,000 supply chain partners. Demand in both activities arises from obligations rather than from discretionary spending, since the utilities commissioning network renewal operate under regulatory price controls that specify the work to be undertaken, while social landlords must maintain their stock to statutory standards of safety and habitability irrespective of their budgets. The transaction was the first British investment by Apollo’s impact fund, which had raised one billion dollars and completed four others elsewhere, and the mandate of that vehicle requires the social outcomes of an investment to be measured alongside its financial performance, a requirement the affordable housing and utility activities were presented as meeting. DC Advisory advised United Living Group, with Addleshaw Goddard as legal counsel and Strategy& and Deloitte on due diligence, while Taylor Wessing and Jamieson advised management and Paul, Weiss and Macfarlanes advised Apollo, with KPMG on financial due diligence.