Total Capital Partners invests in winter services and ground maintenance provider GRITIT

Total Capital Partners (“Total Capital”) today announced that it has acquired a minority stake in GRITIT, a winter services and grounds maintenance company that provides gritting and snow clearance services to commercial properties across the UK.

Total Capital is providing its differentiated single source funding, a combination of equity and debt, to support both organic growth and acquisitions, backing CEO Jason Petsch and his management team to continue their successful strategy in this sector. Total Capital Partners will hold a 40% stake in the business.

The business is growing rapidly and achieved revenues of £25m in the year ending September 2018, an increase of 150% in just two years. GRITIT has its headquarters in Leatherhead, Surrey and employs c. 150 full time staff and provides jobs for up to 400 people during the peak winter season.

As a national provider with locations throughout the UK, GRITIT services around 4,500 commercial properties across the UK. Its client base includes property and facilities management companies as well as direct customers. Gritting and snow clearance are critical requirements for many commercial properties and as a result the £350m winter services market is growing rapidly.

GRITIT is at the forefront of technological development in the industry, having developed high-tech deployment software that uses accurate meteorological data to automatically launch operational services according to localised weather and ground conditions.

Paul Brown led the investment on behalf of Total Capital Partners, and commented:

“GRITIT is an exciting, high growth business that is at the forefront of technology development in its sector. Applying its technological leading edge, it will continue to take winter services market share and continue its expansion into grounds maintenance and landscaping. With a robust capital structure from Total Capital to take the business forward, the business is now very well-placed to increase its market share and capitalise on exciting acquisition opportunities, some of which we have already identified.”

Natalie Eastham, Managing Partner of Total Capital Partners who will join the board of GRITIT, added:

“GRITIT is a fantastic team of people. Total Capital Partners is all about the people, and people choose to work with people, rather than institutions. We are delighted to be working with this team to help deliver their ambitious growth plans.”

Jason Petsch, founder and CEO of GRITIT, commented:

“We felt that the time was right for our business to bring in an investor with whom we could partner during the next phase of our growth. We see a huge opportunity to expand our service provision across the UK and increase our range of services. The funding that we have received from Total Capital will give us additional firepower to pursue those goals.”

This is the third investment that Total Capital has made in the last eighteen months following the MBOs of Walkers Transport, a transport and logistics specialist, and Weird Fish, a lifestyle leisurewear clothing brand. Total Capital Partners provides single source financing for established SMEs with a funding requirement of up to £30m.