Unicorn gains independence via MBO from B&P, Felton is executive chairman

Unicorn Consultancy Services has been liberated from Building & Property Group via a £37 million MBO, backed by Mercury Private Equity. Wayne Felton, joins the company as executive chairman. He was formerly MD of Johnson Controls but has spent the last six months based at Mercury Asset Management, looking at a potential investment in the FM market.

He chose Unicorn he told i-FM, for two clear reasons. "Unicorn have a great management team led by Tim Hancock, the managing director, a very bright and energetic guy. Secondly, the business is stable and it has avoided entering into silly contracts just for the purposes of growth. The business is a bedrock for future expansion and didn't need turning around in order that we can go forward."

Unicorn employs around 600 people and has an annual turnover of about £25m. Its clients include local authorities - in which the company hopes to develop further business - and the MoD. Building & Property have been reported as saying they were happy to sell the business to avoid any potential conflict of interest when bidding for further MoD work with its other subsidiary, Bulding & Property Defence.

The MBO team comprises four managers who came into the company to get involved with the buy-out: Tim Hancock is MD, Bob Speight is FD, John Forster who has been with Unicorn the longest is operations director and Kevin Commerce is in charged with business development.

Felton's remit is to look at future acquisitions and growth for the company, he says. While the business remains essentially property-focused, he is looking at further acquisitions in complementary areas, "ultimately looking to broaden the depth of the business." He is particularly interested in companies specialising in "more traditional FM, higher end strategic consultancy and any back office functions such as procurement and HR".

"It's important to do what we are good at and in the short term we may be looking at forming strategic partnerships which then turn into acquisitions."

What then, does all this mean in terms of growth? Felton is wary of making projections saying that the "danger is you are then setting yourself up for a fall. Instead the focus will be on setting up a business that focuses on client needs and requirements."