Compass Group Agrees to Acquire Supercare in South Africa

We are pleased to announce today that Compass Group, through its subsidiary Compass Group Southern Africa (Proprietary) Ltd ("CGSA"), has agreed to acquire Supercare Services Group (Proprietary) Limited ("Supercare") from, amongst others, management, Zungu Investments (Proprietary) Ltd, Corvest 6 (Proprietary) Ltd and Dickerson Investments (Proprietary) Ltd. For the year to 28 February 2011, Supercare generated revenue of ZAR 710.5m (c.£63.6m) and had gross assets of ZAR 155.3m (c.£12m).

Supercare is one of South Africa's leading cleaning companies, providing a range of specialised services including contract cleaning and washroom hygiene services. It has a high quality client base across South Africa, with c.4,000 contracts in the Business & Industry, Healthcare and Education sectors, and it currently employs c.16,000 people.

This acquisition, which is subject to various conditions including approval from the Competition Commission of South Africa, will expand CGSA's multi-service offer to clients and will give it a strong cross-selling platform.

Andy Furlong, Group Managing Director for the region, said: "We are delighted to have agreed to acquire such a highly respected company as Supercare. It has a reputation for the quality of its services and strong customer relationships with both South African and international clients. This acquisition is in line with Compass Group's ongoing strategy to invest and expand in fast growing markets and we continue to see many exciting opportunities."