Saltend Chemical Park owner Px Group under new management

Px Group, which also operates the critical national infrastructure sites at St Fergus Gas Terminal and Teesside Gas Processing Plant, has been acquired by Aksiom Services Group, a partnership between Ara Partners and the Aksiom Group, and px Group management.

The group will continue to be led by its current senior management team and chairman, something it said would allow for continuity for px Group’s employees, customers, and other stakeholders. The transaction facilitates the exit of private equity firm Bluewater, following a five-year partnership.

Geoff Holmes, px Group CEO, stated: “For decades, px has provided safe and reliable operations to major infrastructure asset owners across the energy and industrial sectors.

“Today, as the company looks across the UK and Europe to potential new markets, we are encouraged by our unprecedented activity levels and available opportunities for px Group to be a leading participant in delivering and operating the next generation of energy and industrial assets for our current and new customers.

“The Aksiom Services Group’s combination of Ara’s focus on investing in industrial decarbonisation and Aksiom’s expertise in developing high-growth technical services companies is a perfect fit for our strategy.”

Charles Cherington, managing partner at Ara, said Px’s offer created “a unique, high-value opportunity for an investor like Ara, with a portfolio of companies developing and building low-carbon industrial infrastructure”.

He added: “Reducing carbon intensity across all of industry – both the large installed base of existing assets and those assets to be built over the coming decades – is core to Ara’s mission, and px Group delivers that objective exceptionally well.”