Colinton Partners’ Dimeo sparkles for suitors; Miles Advisory hired
Ex-Carlyle Australia boss Simon Moore’s private equity firm Colinton Partners has set the wheels in motion for what could be a $350 million exit at its cleaning services business Dimeo.
Colinton boss Simon Moore is hoping to clean up on Dimeo. Rob Homer
Street Talk understands a handful of interested parties have approached Colinton Partners to try to buy Dimeo, which is said to have generated double-digit growth for more than a decade.
The unsolicited interest comes as Colinton heads towards its fifth anniversary at Dimeo. And it’s prompted the PE firm to hire boutique corporate advisory, Miles Advisory, to run a strategic review for Dimeo.
Sources said Miles was called to the scene this month and would spend the coming weeks understanding the business and weighing various options, which could include a full sale.
Should Colinton agree terms with an interested party, it would be bidding farewell to one of its earliest investments. Moore established Colinton in 2017 and bought a significant stake – believed to be 60 per cent – in privately owned Dimeo for about $50 million as 2018 drew to a close.
The 40-year-old business has been a money-spinner for Colinton, serving a diversified and sticky client base in commercial, government, industrial, retail, healthcare, fitness and lifestyle properties.
Clients are typically on fixed-price, multi-year contracts. It has worked for Parliament House, branches of Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and NAB, and the gym network of Fitness & Lifestyle.
Colinton pulled in Moore and Air Services Australia chair John Weber for Dimeo’s board, and tapped ex Coates Hire boss Jeff Fraser as an adviser. It has further bolstered Dimeo’s geographical growth, margins, delivery and operational
Read more on afr.com
