TDR Capital Buys OCU After Revenue Quadruples to £1.2bn

OCU Group has quadrupled revenue to £1.2bn in four years and is now being sold by Triton Partners to TDR Capital. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The sale caps a four-year expansion spree in which Triton drove through 18 acquisitions and transformed OCU from a regional utilities contractor into a broader critical infrastructure business. Revenue jumped from £295m in the year to April 2022 to £1.2bn in the latest financial year, while the order book has climbed past £4bn.

Who is OCU and how did it get here?

OCU traces its roots to O'Connor Utilities, founded by brothers Tim and Tom O'Connor in 1994. Triton bought the group from the brothers in 2022 for a rumoured £400m, when it was turning over around £300m.

The business now employs more than 2,500 people and deploys a total workforce of around 5,500 across the UK, Australia, New Zealand and India. Its in-house capabilities span:

• High-voltage engineering
• Horizontal directional drilling
• Electrical design
• Specialist civils

OCU now delivers work across the full infrastructure lifecycle, from design and construction through to commissioning, repair and maintenance.

What does the new owner plan?

TDR is backing another leg of growth and wants to turn OCU into a bigger international player in critical infrastructure. The investor said it sees scope to accelerate expansion through further acquisitions as power and infrastructure networks face rising investment demands around the world.

OCU chief executive Michael Hughes said: "OCU is a very different business today from the one Triton invested in four years ago, and their support has been instrumental in helping us build the platform we have today."

"Our focus now is on continuing to deliver for our clients, invest in our people and capabilities, and capture the significant opportunities ahead," Hughes added.

TDR managing partner Gary Lindsay said the firm believed OCU could build "a globally relevant position in critical infrastructure".

Why it matters

With a £4bn-plus order book and a buyer that has signalled further acquisitions, the deal positions OCU for continued consolidation in a sector where power and infrastructure networks worldwide face rising investment demands.