Irish engineering company GMC Group has secured an undisclosed investment from private equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners.
Founded in 1981, GMC Group has successfully delivered a number of large-scale infrastructure projects. It was recently named the preferred tenderer for the BusConnects Liffey Valley to Dublin city centre core bus corridor.
The company has seen profits rise significantly in recent years. According to its most recent annual filings, turnover at GMC Group was up 35 per cent in 2023 and had nearly trebled compared to 2001. In that time, pretax profits had jumped 53 per cent to around €14.5 million.
Its business model is to offer full turnkey solutions across seven core sectors: water, gas, power, telecoms, transportation, public sector and renewables.
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The transaction is subject to approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
GMC said that its management team, led by chief executive Shane McCloskey, will remain the majority shareholders in the business and will continue to lead the company. Mr McCloskey owned close to 85 per cent of the business ahead of the TowerBrook investment.
“This investment by TowerBrook marks an exciting new chapter for GMC Group,” said Mr McCloskey. “It provides us with the resources and strategic support we need to ensure that we continue to deliver projects across Ireland. Importantly, it will help accelerate our growth ambitions.”
US-based TowerBrook, which has over $25 billion in assets under management, specialises in taking minority stakes in target companies.
It focuses on private equity and structured opportunities across Europe and North America, partnering management teams to build and transform businesses.
Since 2000, the firm has invested in more than 110 companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
“GMC’s reputation for technical excellence, operational reliability and its deep-rooted relationships with Ireland’s key infrastructure stakeholders make it an ideal partner,” said TowerBrook managing director Joseph Knoll and senior principal Sumit Dheir in a joint statement.
“We look forward to supporting the team as GMC continues to scale its operations and deliver mission-critical services that benefit communities across the country.”
Clearwater acted as the exclusive financial adviser to the shareholders of GMC Group with legal advice provided by Squire Patton Boggs.
