Global testing and inspection group SGS Australia has expanded its footprint in Western Australia, acquiring Belmont-based electrical maintenance and conditioning monitoring business, Testing and Commissioning Services Australia (TACS) for an undisclosed price.
Started in 1981 by Wally Ciupryk, the family business has grown from a three-person operation to a modern, state-of the-art laboratory, with 20 staff servicing clients around Australia as well as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.
In addition to electrical testing and commissioning, the company also operates one of the largest independent insulating oil laboratories in Australia, performing transformer insulating oil filtration and reclamation and maintenance.
The company achieved revenues of more than $2.5 million in 2007.
Managing director Helen Scott, who joined TACS soon after its inception, said it had become increasingly difficult to grow the business as a small, family-run operation.
“SGS has the infrastructure to push the business to where it has the potential to go,” she told WA Business News.
While the management team will stay in place, the business name will change to SGS almost immediately, with a relocation to SGS’s new multi-million dollar head office at Perth Airport.
The acquisition expands the services offered by SGS in Australia to include testing and commissioning of electrical equipment for the first time.
SGS will look to roll-out its new services offering into the eastern states first, and is currently assessing whether to expand its current east coast operations or run them through the new facility.
The acquisition marks the second for SGS Australia in WA, after acquiring assay laboratory Scientific Services in 2001.
SGS operates a network of about 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world employing about 42,000 people, with its Australian head office located in Perth.
The company recently commissioned the new 6,500 square metre office, laboratory and warehouse facility, located on a 2.7-hectare site in Kewlink West.
SGS Australia business analyst Craig Dennis said the new facility would consolidate eight different properties under the one roof.
Once the consolidation is completed towards the end of the year, SGS will have two sites in Perth – the airport site and another in Malaga, which will be home to the group’s metallurgical business.
SGS Australia employs about 1,500 people Australia wide, with 300 of those based in Perth and 50 to 150 in the regions.
Mr Dennis said the group was looking to achieve organic growth of about 10 per cent globally, while also looking for further acquisitions.
