Infrastructure | Heligan Group

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I'm Andy Dickinson. I'm a director here at Heligan Group, and I lead the infrastructure services team. And infrastructure services for us is quite a broad sector. Covers everything from architects to cost consultants, surveyors, all the way through to M&E contractors, engineers, including wastewater, data centers, highways engineering.
So it's quite a broad sector. We advise companies throughout, and that could be on a day-to-day basis as part of a longer-term, informal relationship, but also in a transaction when someone's looking to exit. And I think that's the great thing.
You get companies and businesses that have done so well over the years, have started off regional players, spread their service capability and regional capacity, and there's some really impressive businesses out there in infrastructure that have got a national approach.

Within the Heligan corporate finance team, we break down into sectors. So within infrastructure services, we do a lot of heavy, deep research into the sector. We do a lot of high-quality output in terms of tracking the market, in terms of what's happening, in terms of deal activity.
Who are the key buyers in the sector?
What are the key regulation and capital commitments in the sector?
So that when we do have conversations with owner-managed businesses, with corporate clients, we understand not just at a surface level how the business operates, to actually bring a deeper level of insight to make sure that we fundamentally understand the business and the landscape they operate in. We track a lot of deal activity in the UK, so we're up to speed about valuations and transaction volumes in the UK, who's acquiring what. I think a core one for us is overseas acquirers as well. It's quite insightful to know that sort of global approach about who's got increased appetite for UK assets.

I would say the reason clients like working with the corporate finance team at Heligan is because we hold that strong sector expertise and knowledge in the infrastructure services market, and we hold those close relationships with the clients to really understand what it is that they want and what kind of options they want to explore.

What sets us apart

Heligan brings a deep understanding of the infrastructure services landscape. We work closely with clients to deliver intelligent, strategic advice informed by sector insight and transaction experience. Our understanding of buyer priorities, valuation trends and funding appetite allows us to structure and execute deals that create long-term value.

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Two of the key sector themes that are coming out for us at the moment are grid modernization and the work that's going on in the wastewater sector. Grid modernization in particular, that's an area that's critical for UK government, and it's at the top of national strategic priorities, predominantly around our own energy supply, making sure we as a country have got control of it. But secondly, that the grid is flexible and of scale to support us with modern-day energy requirements. But on the wastewater front, we have an asset there that's pretty old, and it's not had the level of investment and maintenance in recent years that it should have done. That's an area where the government's throwing a lot of capital, albeit it's coming out of the taxpayer's pocket. And all that will be around improving and extending the capacity of the sewage network of the wastewater systems around the country.

The biggest theme that we're seeing in the infrastructure sector is there is a real demand for UK infrastructure improvements. So a lot of UK infrastructure at the moment, whether that is across transport, the water sector, the energy sector, it's been under-invested for many years. So there's been a real need for the government and private capital to make investments into the space. But that hasn't quite translated. So across the last five years, we've seen deal activity been fairly stable. We've seen a real uptick across 2025 and moving into 2026. The deal activity has really started to pick up, and we see '26 being potentially a record year.

The key themes that we're seeing in infrastructure services, I think, can be brought back to what buyers are valuing. So they're valuing niche specialist capabilities, they're looking at recurring revenues, and they're looking at regulatory tailwinds that can sustain growth over a long period of time. Now, we can see in the first half of 2026, the sectors that have been really active are specialist construction services, MEP services, and energy and utilities as well, and all three of those show that, really importantly.

The scale of the national infrastructure pipeline for businesses in our sector is a huge burning light of hope. But at the same time, when people look at their order book tomorrow, depending on where they're positioned in the market, it may not make a blind bit of
difference. So there is some cynicism in the market around the promises that politicians have made in terms of the capital that's going to be
thrown towards UK infrastructure, and I think you can look at this in two buckets.

There are critical requirements which we have to deliver as a country, so that money will get deployed. How quickly is a big question, but it will get deployed, and nuclear is a big example of that, the work that's going on at Hinkley and Sizewell C. However, the volume of it, and the volume of projects, and the scale of the capital is a level that's unprecedented.

Infrastructure Trends

From grid modernisation and water investment to data centres, highways and MEP services, the UK infrastructure services market is seeing renewed momentum. Heligan’s Infrastructure Services team explores the key trends driving deal activity, buyer appetite and long-term opportunity across the sector.

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Acquirers are currently prioritizing predictable and recurring revenue streams, things like maintenance contracts, long-term frameworks, anything that provides a solid base of earnings, which doesn't need retendering year on year. In terms of owner managers responding to the current environment, we're starting to see that owners are re-engaging in conversations around succession, strategic investments, and exit planning. Now that we can see that there's much better visibility in the end markets, I'd say the buyer appetite is very strong at the moment. So the combination of those is giving those owners more confidence to explore their options.

Owner managers' response to the current environment has been mixed. So we look at a broad sector taxonomy across infrastructure services. So in some of the hotter segments of the market, we're seeing a lot of buyer interest, and that is naturally drawing owner managers into processes, either because they've been approached by buyers or they see the potential to maximize value. In other sections of the market, it has been tougher. So certainly in the heavy civil engineering or construction sectors, these sectors still seem to face some delays. So we do find some owner managers are a bit more cautious. They want to see the order books stronger before they take a business to market.

So a lot of investors, when they look at an owner managed business, there's a few things that they're looking for. So one of the key ones is to have a strong management team in place. So a lot of the founder-led businesses, a lot of people take this as a retirement sale. One of the key things that they need to do before they look at a transaction is to consider, who is the second-tier management team? Are they capable of running the business if I was to exit? So one of the key messages we have for these founder-led businesses is, if you are looking for a retirement sale, to really think about the process one or two years before you do that. Put the right people in place and ensure that when a buyer looks at your business, they can see how that business will operate in the future.

Assuming a business is transaction-ready and you go into a process, another factor that can delay a sale is trading performance. So when we market a business on a business performing in terms of the key financial metrics, if trading performance does drop off, it can often lead to buyer confidence reducing during a process, which can extend or, if not, lead to a deal falling over.

What infrastructure business owner should be thinking about

Infrastructure business owners are facing a more active M&A market, but preparation remains critical. Heligan’s Infrastructure Services team explores what owners should consider before a sale, acquisition or investment process, from succession planning and management depth to contract visibility, compliance and buyer expectations.