TDR Capital and I Squared Capital are pleased to announce their successful offer for the Spanish certification company, Applus Services S.A.
Applus is one of the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification (TIC) companies. Applus reported revenue of €2,058 million in 2023 and employs over 26,000 people in more than 70 countries. Revenue generated from the home country of Spain accounted for 23% of the total. Applus addresses three deep and broad markets: automotive; energy and industry; laboratories.
The winning offer of EUR 12.78 per share was confirmed by Spanish markets regulator, CNMV. The successful bidding entity, Amber Equity Company, will now enter an acceptance period for Applus Services S.A.
Commenting on this successful outcome of the auction process, Mohammed el Gazzar, Senior Partner, I Squared, said: “We are delighted to have won out in what was a long and intensive process. I am grateful to TDR for their partnership throughout. I Squared and TDR have an extensive and successful history. We support management teams with capital and sector expertise to help them to develop world class businesses. Our recent track record of completing large transactions includes the successful take-private of Aggreko plc. The performance of Aggreko plc under our combined stewardship demonstrates our ability to work with management to achieve their strategic vision.”
el Gazzar continued: “For I Squared, Applus is an extremely attractive infrastructure-related asset. We are looking forward to working with the leadership team in the coming weeks and months to ensure a smooth transition to private ownership.”
Gary Lindsay, Managing Partner, TDR Capital, said: “TDR focuses on investing our capital and know-how in businesses with long-term secular growth opportunities like Applus. The company has built a great business around automotive testing and inspection and has successfully moved its focus to higher growth opportunities: labs, renewables, power and infra segments. This transaction positions Applus for the changing dynamics – regulatory scrutiny, the shift to more sustainable transport and electrification.”
“We see an opportunity to accelerate Applus’s development as a global leader in the TIC industry with strong positions across its highly attractive segments. This is an excellent outcome for the public market investors who backed Applus. We now believe that the business should be better for all stakeholders without the constraints and short-term focus imposed by the public market.”
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Actona Group, a global pioneer in the furniture industry, is charting a new course towards sustainability and is now partnering with Makersite, an AI-enabled product lifecycle intelligence software known for its comprehensive approach to managing product sustainability, cost, and compliance in real-time.
The collaboration underscores Actona Group’s commitment to significantly enhancing its sustainability and business practices across all aspects of its operations. By leveraging Makersite’s cutting-edge capabilities, Actona Group is ready to achieve detailed insight into product-specific Scope 3 emissions, setting a new industry standard in environmental accountability.
Actona Group recognized the dual benefits of integrating sustainability into its operations: the ethical importance of protecting the planet for future generations and the clear business advantages of driving growth and fostering innovation. As Actona Group is strictly focused on minimising its environmental impact it has been a natural step for the company to automate and expand its sustainability initiatives by tracking and mitigating its supply chain emissions accurately.
To follow through with this initiative, Actona Group emphasized the need for a robust, solution-oriented approach to streamline data collection and analysis, thus ensuring Actona Groups leadership in environmental stewardship within the competitive landscape of the furniture industry.
“Partnering with Makersite represents a significant step forward in our sustainability journey,” said Jimmi King Mortensen, President and CEO of Actona Group. “Makersite’s platform allows us to track emissions at every step of the design process and helps us make informed, sustainable decisions, showing a clear path to customers and suppliers of our commitment to design and source better products.”
The collaboration with Makersite enables Actona Group to further reinforce their commitment to sustainability leadership through its ambitious three-fold mission:

Foster ecodesign and circularity with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA),
Implement sustainable production methods, including supply chain decarbonization.
Extend the use of recycled materials both within its product line and across its supply chain through responsible procurement practices.

“This partnership has proven to be particularly beneficial for providing Actona Group with access to Makersite’s automated, verified and scalable system for Scope 3 emissions reporting,” said Neil D’Souza, CEO and Founder of Makersite. “Our solution has enabled Actona Group to track emissions right down to each individual purchased part and material.”
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Today Sumsub, a leading global verification provider, announced that it has teamed up with Onda Più, an energy services company based in Sicily. Together, the two companies are pioneering digital user onboarding and fraud prevention for Italian electricity and natural gas services.
This collaboration will help Onda Più ensure smooth verification procedures for both individual customers and companies, protecting consumers from fake service subscriptions and other scams.
By integrating Sumsub’s solution, Onda Più seeks to maintain high client acquisition rates while keeping fraudsters at bay. The key features provided by Sumsub include Identity Verification, Liveness (facial biometrics) checks, IP and Geo Intelligence, Applicant Risk Scoring, Phone and Email Risk Assessment, and Device Fingerprinting.
“By implementing Sumsub’s digital verification solution, we aim to have 100% awareness in our new customer onboarding process. This collaboration highlights our commitment to safeguarding the user experience for existing and new clients, and to offer our energy services only to genuine customers,” comments Francesco Pagliari, Managing Director at Onda Più.
“We are thrilled to offer our platform’s capabilities to Onda Più, an innovative client-focused energy provider in Italy,” says Peter Sever, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Sumsub. “Sumsub is open to establishing collaborations in new industries and countries, furthering our mission to create a safe, accessible, and inclusive digital future for all.”
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