Rentokil Initial acquires Bestway

Rentokil Initial PLC recently announced that it has acquired Bestway, a leading Chilean provider of pest control, hygiene and other office services, from the Santa Cruz Negri family's Empresas SCN SA and Los Cactus, Asesorías e Inversiones Ltd.

Bestway, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is the market leader in hygiene services and the third largest provider of pest control services in the country. It also has a smaller, start-up operation in Colombia, mainly in Bogota. With 2013 revenues of £11 million, it employs 274 people and brings an experienced local management team, led by CEO Gerardo Guzmán, into the Company.

The acquisition follows last week’s announcement of a differentiated plan for Rentokil Initial to create shareholder value through higher revenue, sustainable profit growth and significantly increased free cash flow over the medium term. The Emerging markets were identified as offering good opportunities to build market leading positions, and this acquisition helps build a platform for continued growth in Latin America.

Andy Ransom, Chief Executive of Rentokil Initial plc, said: “Bestway marks our entry into Chile and Colombia, two exciting new emerging markets for the Group. We will continue to build our regional strength in Latin America through organic growth and our pipeline of further bolt-on acquisitions.

“We have been targeting Chile as the next step in our Latin America expansion strategy following acquisitions in Mexico and Brazil, both of which are performing ahead of our expectations.”