Acquisitions
Unica has the ambition to grow between 10 and 15% each year. This makes us a meaningful player, capable of delivering long-term impact for our customers and other market parties. In addition to autonomous growth, this growth ambition is achieved through acquisitions and mergers. Once again in 2023, our acquisition policy helped expand our regional presence and reinforce our specialisations.
Breedveld & Schröder and Hermans Elektra
In October, we reinforced our regional position in the central Netherlands with the acquisition of Breedveld & Schröder and Hermans Elektra. Both companies, that belong to the same installation group, are leading technical service providers with an excellent reputation. Breedveld & Schröder has been involved in the construction and maintenance of electrical engineering systems for more than 125 years, and for more than 40 years, Hermans Elektra as an (electrical engineering) installation company has specialised in measurement and control technology and panel building. This acquisition offers us a solid base of operation in Flevoland. In collaboration with the existing branches of Unica in Amsterdam, we can now offer even better service to our customers in the Central Netherlands. The combined location for Breedveld & Schröder and Hermans Elektra has been integrated in the branch network of Unica Building Services. The cluster now consists of 18 branches spread all across the Netherlands.
Tenergy & Engine Competences Services (ECS)
This organisation, acquired in June, offers two core activities: energy balancing and special overhaul and maintenance work on cogeneration systems. This acquisition reinforces our key disciplines in the Unica Energy Solutions cluster.
Activities at Tenergy are based on a software platform developed in-house, which is able to automatically adopt positions on the electricity market. The platform is optimised for the ramping up and down of cogeneration systems, lighting systems, boilers and PV systems in the greenhouse horticulture sector with a view to re-establishing balance on the electricity grid. In addition, Engine Competences Services (ECS) is responsible for maintenance and overhaul work on cogeneration systems, mainly in the greenhouse horticulture sector. Both activities have an important role to play in the energy transition, where there is huge demand for solutions for the ramping up and ramping down of emergency power and balancing the electricity grid.
In the face of the rapid increase in congestion on the electricity grid, we see huge growth potential on the market for energy balancing. In combination with the knowledge of energy markets and the technology available to us in house, this acquisition places us in an even better position to play a key role in this challenge.
Acquisitions since the balance sheet date
Our merger and acquisition strategy was further enhanced in the first few months of 2024 with two new acquisitions. In January, Unica signed an agreement to acquire the Fire & Gas business unit from Dräger. The integration of this specialist in fire and gas detection and extinguishing materials will further broaden and expand our fire safety portfolio, brought together in the Unica Fire Safety cluster. The Fire & Gas business unit of Dräger is a leading player in fire and gas protection projects and maintenance in the Netherlands, has around 120 employees and generated revenue in excess of €20 million euro in 2023. The unbundling of this business unit will be concluded in May 2024.
In April 2024, we announced the acquisition of Eljes, an operator involved in the construction of optic fibre networks for datacentres and network providers in the Benelux. This acquisition will expand the range of services offered by the Unica Datacenters cluster. Eljes has 24 employees and in 2023 generated revenue of €15 million.