ControlPoint acquired by Ovarro
The Yorkshire & North East Corporate Finance team of Dow Schofield Watts has advised the shareholders of ControlPoint on its sale to Ovarro
ControlPoint is based in Chesterfield and serves the utility sector with digital quality assurance and data management solutions. Its technology is used on gas and water pipelines around the World. ControlPoint’s system involves unique software and real time inspection of pipeline jointing at the point of installation, giving asset owners and contractors the ability to prevent poor joints being installed on the network.
ControlPoint has been acquired by Ovarro, a subsidiary of Laurel Solutions which is backed by San Francisco-based private equity investor, FFL Partners. It is a market leading provider of Remote Telemetry Units (RTUs), acoustic leakage data loggers, secure SCADA systems and intelligent analytics software.
Ovarro is the new name for Servelec Technologies and water leak detection specialist, Primayer, which rebranded in 2020. The company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK and has offices in North America, Australia, Belgium, France, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
Ovarro works with customers across water, oil & gas, broadcast and transportation to help monitor, control and manage their assets. Its technology is used throughout the World to monitor, control and manage critical and national infrastructure. Collecting and communicating data from some of the most remote locations and harshest environments on the planet, enables its clients to work smarter and more effectively.
“Ovarro are delighted to welcome ControlPoint to the team and are firmly committed to continued investment in ControlPoint’s people, technology and software solutions, so that together we may grow and develop our combined range of complimentary products and services for all our customers in the utility sector around the world,” said David Frost, CEO of Ovarro.
Ben Crabtree, Managing Director of ControlPoint added, “The combination of Ovarro and ControlPoint provides us with the opportunity to continue to support our established end markets and customers in the UK, whilst leveraging the financial and human capital of Ovarro to expand our market position around the world.”
“Ovarro’s acquisition of ControlPoint continues to demonstrate the investment strategy to further develop as an industry leading player in leakage for the utility sectors” added Martin Carter, CEO Laurel Solutions.
The Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance team that advised ControlPoint included Roger Esler, Paul Herriott and Bibin Johnson. Legal advisers to the vendor were DLA Piper UK LLP (Richard May, Sheffield).
Roger Esler commented, “ControlPoint was founded in 2010 to apply its unique technology to address a real-world problem in the utility sector. Ovarro provides a natural strategic home for the business with the complementary technologies and additional international reach to support its ongoing growth and development.”