The 9 buy-and-build platforms we track made 50 UK compliance acquisitions since January 2025. 161 independent targets are left in the £250k–£5m band, and 49.1% of them have an owner aged 60 or over.
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Build your buy boxCompliance work suits buy-and-build. Much of it is required by law: servicing fire alarms and extinguishers, testing emergency lighting, inspecting lifts, checking water systems for legionella bacteria, testing electrical wiring and surveying buildings for asbestos. Building owners and employers have to pay for this work, much of it comes round again every year, and many of the firms doing it are small and owner-run. A platform can add a local firm as a bolt-on and sell its customers the other services the group already provides.
Private equity has noticed. This article counts the UK deals the main compliance platforms have filed at Companies House, shows how fast they are buying, and measures the independent companies still there for a buyer to approach.
We track 9 buy-and-build platforms that buy testing, inspection, certification and compliance (TICC) businesses in the UK, and 8 of them are backed by private equity. Ranked by UK deals since January 2025, the leaders are Ranger Fire & Security (16 deals), Celnor Group (13 deals) and Complii (7 deals).
| Buyer | Backer | UK deals since January 2025 | In 2026 to date | UK deals in five years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranger Fire & Security | Private equity | 16 | 6 | 24 |
| Celnor Group | Private equity | 13 | 2 | 20 |
| Complii | Private equity | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| Phenna Group | Private equity | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| London Security | Overseas group | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| HSL Compliance | Private equity | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| Normec | Private equity | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Trescal | Private equity | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Senseco Systems | Private equity | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 50 deals since January 2025 and 114 in the five years from 14 October 2021. | ||||
A deal here is a date on which the buyer took control of a UK company from its owners, as filed on the register of people with significant control. These counts are floors. A deal appears only once the bought company files its new owner, and acquisitions outside the UK do not appear at all, so a platform that also buys abroad will have announced more deals than this table shows.
The same 9 buyers filed 38 UK deals in 2025, against 24 in 2024. So far in 2026, 12 have been filed, and that count will rise as recent deals reach the register.
| Year | UK deals | Buyers that bought |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 | 3 |
| 2022 | 15 | 5 |
| 2023 | 22 | 8 |
| 2024 | 24 | 8 |
| 2025 | 38 | 9 |
| 2026 (to 14 October 2026) | 12 | 4 |
More buyers chasing the same owners changes the market for everyone in it. With more platforms in the sector, owners of good compliance firms can expect more approaches, from buyers who already know the work, and a buyer who reaches an owner before a sale process starts has the best chance of a deal that is not an auction.
Consolidation has not used up the market. Our model rates 161 independent UK compliance companies with £250k–£5m estimated EBITDA as PURSUE, our highest verdict: companies showing exit-timing signals on a sound business, and not owned by another company. Of those, 49.1% have an owner aged 60 or over, and 21.1% an owner aged 70 or over.
The largest specialisms in that list are fire & security systems (64), testing, inspection, certification & calibration (28) and asbestos surveying & removal (17).
| Specialism | Companies |
|---|---|
| Fire & security systems | 64 |
| Testing, inspection, certification & calibration | 28 |
| Asbestos surveying & removal | 17 |
| Health & safety consultancy | 12 |
| Environmental, ecology & acoustic consultancy | 10 |
| Electrical testing & inspection | <10 |
| Height safety & access | <10 |
| Lifts & escalators | <10 |
| Water hygiene & treatment | <10 |
| Fire & Safety Services (whole trade) | 26 |
| Passive Fire Protection (whole trade) | 13 |
| 161 companies in total. 49.1% have an owner aged 60 or over and 21.1% an owner aged 70 or over. | |
The specialisms come from each company's own description of what it does, not from the industry code it registered at Companies House. That code is chosen when the company is formed and is broad, so the description is the better guide to whether a company actually does compliance work.
Our buy box has a TICC thesis built in. Pick it and the search covers fire and security systems, testing and inspection, lifts, height safety, water hygiene, electrical testing, asbestos, and environmental and health and safety consultancy in one step. Add the regions and EBITDA band you buy and see how many PURSUE companies fit today. A Buy Box Licence names every PURSUE company inside your buy box for a year, and on any morning new ones appear we email them to you. For niches beyond compliance, see our ranking of UK buy-and-build niches.
Figures were measured on 14 October 2026 from Companies House data held by ExitRadar. Deals are counted from the register of people with significant control: a deal is a completion date on which the buyer took control of one or more UK companies from their individual owners. Moves inside a group are not counted, and where a buyer files through more than one UK holding company its deals are counted once. The five-year window starts on 14 October 2021. We name a buyer only where a public source confirms who it is, and we use the name it trades under. The target companies are those our model rates PURSUE in our TICC thesis with £250k–£5m estimated EBITDA, excluding companies owned by another company. EBITDA figures are estimates. Owner age is the oldest person on the register of people with significant control. We withhold any figure covering fewer than 10 companies. PURSUE is our model's verdict on a company, not a forecast that it will sell.