Two international facilities management providers, Atalian and Servest, have merged to form Atalian Servest, one of the world’s largest FM outsourcing companies. The new organisation has a turnover of £2.63bn, employs more than 125,000 people worldwide and operates in 33 countries across four continents. The merger follows the formation of a joint venture between the two organisations in 2016.
Both privately-owned businesses are geographically complementary to one another with Servest headquartered and operating in the UK, and Atalian, headquartered in France and operating in Europe, the US, south-east Asia and Africa offering a full range of facilities services including cleaning, catering, security, building services, energy management and compliance, front of house, landscaping, waste management and pest control to clients in the private and public sectors.
Atalian and Servest both have a strong heritage in providing customised facilities solutions to a variety of organisations in a diverse range of sectors. Both companies are experienced at understanding and managing cultural nuances in different local environments while delivering a seamless global service.
The merger strengthens this local presence and global service delivery and will enable Atalian Servest to continue to develop its innovative approach based on their customers’ requirements, whether that be at a local, national or international level.
Through its significant investment in, and partnership with global ICT services specialist Getronics, the new entity will also focus on further developing its technology-led workspace solutions including tools focused on workspace management, managed cloud, unified communications and applications. This will enable Atalian Servest to play a leading role in the workplace technology market and provide a seamless FM and mobile technology offering to its growing client base.
The merger comes at a time when workplace management is increasingly focused on digital transformation through the development of smart buildings and the Internet of Things.
“Our two organisations are very complementary with like-minded business approaches based on an entrepreneurial strategy where organic and acquisitive growth are of equal importance,” said Matthieu de Baynast, Group CEO at Atalian. “The merger of our organisations will enable businesses to have more choice when looking for a global FM partner.”
Rob Legge, Chairman UK and USA at Servest, said, “At a time when the Brexit deal is creating headlines about the UK’s exit from Europe, this is a genuine story of UK and European harmony and collaboration. Many of our multinational or global clients are looking for a more standardised service delivery across geographies and can now benefit from our approach wherever they are based.
The merger also demonstrates the strength of and optimism within the facilities management and outsourcing sectors both in the UK and around the world following a turbulent time in the market place.”
The merged group’s executive management team will see Chairman of Atalian Franck Julien and Group CEO, Matthieu de Baynast, joined by Kenton Fine assuming the role of Vice Chairman of the Group, with Rob Legge becoming Chairman UK and USA.