Interserve buys cleaning business for £250m
Office cleaning and catering business Initial Facilities, which includes a base in Dudley employing about 100, is changing hands for £250 million.
It is being sold to Interserve by Rentokil Initial and the deal is subject to the agreement of Interserve's shareholders at a general meeting on March 17.
Rentokil Initial spokesman Malcolm Pedley said the multi-service business would transfer to Interserve with no redundancies or closure of any facilities by the end of March. "We are communicating with the people affected," he added.
The Dudley offices at Castlegate were the head office of Initial Services until four years ago when it was moved to Camberley.
Initial, bought by Rentokil in 1996, has grown to become one of the leading cleaning companies offering services for offices, retail premises, airports and railway stations.
It also provides canteen cooks and security guards for shopping centres and employs 25,000 people in total.
Mike Brown, managing director of Initial Facilities, said: "This is a good combination and a very complementary home for our business, its customers and employees. We will be a core part of one of the UK's largest support services organisations and that focus will undoubtedly present new opportunities that all of our stakeholders can be excited about. I am looking forward to working with the Interserve management team who share the same ambitions for the company going forward."
Rentokil Initial has been in talks with Interserve about a sale since March last year. Its disposal will enable Rentokil Initial to focus on its three core route-based categories of pest control, hygiene and workwear.
Initial Facilities delivered an operating profit of £25.8m on revenue of £534m last year.
