In its fourth exit of the year, Bridges is delighted to announce it has agreed to sell the Nexgen Group to Bidvest Noonan, a market-leading provider of facilities services such as security, cleaning, and front-of-house solutions across the UK and Ireland.

Bridges invested in Just Ask – a family-run ESG-driven facilities management business that worked primarily with Housing Associations – in 2017. In the subsequent years, Bridges worked with the founders to support their transition out of the day-to-day business, building a high-calibre new management team – led by CEO Mark Little, CFO Gordon Peattie and chair Jon Andrew – to lead the business through its next chapter of growth.

Alongside management, Bridges also spearheaded five bolt-on acquisitions that have collectively transformed the scale and scope of the business, extending its core sectors beyond Social Housing into Education, Healthcare and Property Management. The integrated business, which was renamed the Nexgen Group in early 2023, is now one of the few scaled facilities management platforms in the UK and remains the market leader in its core Social Housing market.

Supported by Bridges’ specialist value creation team, Nexgen has now fully integrated the acquisitions, creating a resilient, tech-enabled operational platform – including IT, Finance and HR – to support further growth. This has significantly improved the business’s efficiency, helping it to reduce carbon emissions through route optimisation and service a broader range of clients more effectively. This has enabled the enlarged Nexgen Group to enjoy strong organic growth since the acquisitions.

When Bridges invested in Just Ask, the business employed 450 people and was generating about £10m of revenue. Nexgen Group is now generating revenue of about £90m, with around 3,500 employees.

The business has retained its focus on ESG and social value, which continues to be an important differentiator when bidding for public sector and social housing contracts. Nexgen is committed to improving local communities, both through a relentless focus on quality service provision, and by providing employment opportunities for local people. Thanks to its proactive recruitment efforts, about a third of delivery staff are recruited from the social housing associations in which it operates. It is also focused on supporting people out of long-term unemployment (11% of staff fall into this category) and improving skills, notably through its in-house training academy. Volunteering is actively encouraged: staff have now pledged over 2,000 hours of their time to support local and community causes. This year, Nexgen is expecting to deliver about £2m of social value to its clients (as measured by the Social Value TOM system).

The exit is Bridges’ fourth in the last seven months, following sales of home decarbonisation delivery platform AgilityEco, specialist plant-based ingredients supplier Vegetarian Express, and Iberian low-cost fitness operator VivaGym.

James Hurrell, Partner at Bridges, said,

“Nexgen is a great example of three key elements of Bridges’ investment strategy. First, we identified a high-quality, impact-driven provider whose focus on ESG and social value would help them become a leader in their market. Second, we were able to support the founders to transition, while building an outstanding senior leadership team. And third, our value creation team has been able to work closely with management to deliver growth, both by implementing significant operational improvements, and by identifying complementary acquisitions that have transformed the breadth and scale of the business. We are proud of the progress Nexgen has made during our partnership, and are confident that Bidvest Noonan is the right partner to enable the business to continue its growth trajectory.”

Mark Little, CEO of Nexgen Group, said:

“Bridges were the perfect investment partner for Just Ask, because they understood the value that its ESG focus would bring, while also providing hands-on commercial input and support. Over the years, the Bridges team have played a vital role in helping drive through transformative acquisitions, significantly enhance our operating capacity, and scale our impact. We’re very grateful for their partnership and support over the last seven years.

“Looking forward, I am confident that Bidvest Noonan will be an excellent partner to support our long-term growth plans. They recognise that Nexgen is a best-in-class operator in an attractive niche, and we look forward to drawing on their support to further enhancing our offer to clients in the coming years.”

Declan Doyle, CEO of Bidvest Noonan, said:

“We are very impressed with the team at Nexgen Group. They have built a thriving business with a very bright and exciting future. Their strong commitment to their colleagues, customers and communities has been key to their success. We look forward to supporting them and contributing to their continued growth and success.”