environmental due diligence supported multi-billion international deal

Price is not the only important factor when businesses are sold. It is also important to identify the risks in the deal, and in this connection environmental due diligence has played a growing role in recent years in providing a sound basis for buying and selling businesses and properties by examining key environmental issues.

This was evident when the largest Nordic distributor and seller of building materials, Stark Group, was sold in November 2017 to the American investment fund, Lone Star, for around DKK 7.7 billion.

Ferguson plc, one of the world’s leading distributors of HVAC products, has now sold Stark Group to the Americans. The decision to sell was taken on the basis of a strategic analysis which showed that there were very few synergies between Ferguson’s core business in the HVAC industry and Stark Group’s prominent profile as a distributor and seller of building materials.

Unknown environmental impacts can be costly to a company. That is why, when Stark Group was to be sold, COWI was tasked with creating an overview and contributing with specialist knowledge and support, as well as to price risks and liabilities. Among other things, COWI provided an assessment of soil contamination and asbestos in 200 locations.