Palatine makes 6x in ESG consulting firm sale to Carlyle

Carlyle has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Anthesis, a pure-play sustainability advisory and solutions business. Existing investor Palatine Private Equity will reinvest for a minority stake, alongside Anthesis’ employee shareholders.

The enterprise value was for about £400 million ($508 million; €465 million), according to sources close to the deal. Carlyle and Palatine declined to comment on the size.

Palatine makes an return of 6x its initial investment with the sale. The Manchester-headquartered UK mid-market private equity firm first made a minority investment in Anthesis in March 2021 from its first impact fund and fourth buyout fund. The reinvestment is from its second impact fund, but the same buyout fund.

Service providers, data firms and consultants in the ESG and sustainability space have proved attractive targets for private equity investors. EcoVadis, ERM and Sphera are all backed by private equity sponsors.

Anthesis analyses, designs and implements sustainability, ESG and net-zero programmes. It has over 4,000 customers including corporations, and financial and governmental institutions. It is headquartered in London with offices around the world.

Carlyle’s investment, via its Carlyle Europe Partners platform, is aimed to help Anthesis expand internationally, grow its service offering and perform M&A. Anthesis made five acquisitions during Palatine’s first investment, including Wallbrook, a global ESG advisory company focused on anti-corruption, investigations, and human rights, earlier this month.

“As demand for sustainability solutions continues to accelerate, we believe Anthesis’ long-standing reputation for leading technical expertise and track record of high-quality delivery, makes the company exceptionally well positioned to further scale to meet this growing opportunity,” said Mark Dale, managing director on the Carlyle Europe Partners investment advisory team, in a release.

As well as an investment, Washington DC-headquartered Carlyle will work with Anthesis “to develop solutions around material ESG topics both within our portfolio and on a broader, global scale”, said global head of impact Meg Starr in the release.