Writech
& Waterland

Writech designs, manufactures, installs and services fire protection, fire detection, security and HVAC systems across a range of sectors including data canters, life sciences, logistics, retail, office and food and beverage.

The company specializes in delivering complex bespoke engineered fire protection systems to an exceptional quality standard in industry-leading timeframes. Writech is pioneering the use of innovative modular solutions in the European fire safety industry. By manufacturing the systems in a controlled factory environment, Writech can significantly cut installation times and improve schedule reliability for its customers, while enhancing quality control and substantially reducing health and safety risks.

The company’s headquarters and manufacturing facility are located in Mullingar, Ireland. It also has a market leading position in UK (operating through its Compco brand) and Sweden (operating through Ce Sprinkler brand), and delivers projects across the Nordics, DACH, Benelux and Iberian markets.

For further information: writechltd.com

A fragmented market with strong regulatory tailwinds

“Having such a strong and experienced partner as Waterland on board, has helped us to rapidly accelerate our plans to become the leading independent fire safety group in Europe.”

Ted Wright, CEO of Writech Group

Strategy for growth

In many ways, a partnership with Waterland is not unlike a marriage. Before we begin, we invest heavily in getting to know our potential partner, understanding their aspirations for themselves, the companies they have built and the teams they lead. We do the hard work of building a shared vision and strategy for the group. We talk openly about what could change in the external environment and internally, and how we might address the challenges, seen and unforeseen, that will arise along the way. Our goal is to ensure there are no fundamental surprises on either side, and that throughout our investment period, we are working together with the same end goal in mind. As we grew to know Ted and his team, over the course of around 6 months of discussions prior to our investment, we agreed that investing in people and culture would be key to our success. We agreed that we wanted to focus on increasing recurring revenue, diversifying our product offering, diversifying the end markets in which we operate and achieving a Top-5 leadership position in key international markets through buy-and-build.

During the first 18 months of our partnership, Waterland has supported Writech to make 3 acquisitions outside of Ireland: Compco Fire Systems, the leading independent provider of automatic fire protection systems in the UK; JEM Pumps, a specialist pump servicing business based in Rochdale, UK; and CE Sprinkler, a Swedish fire protection leader. In that short time, revenue has already grown by more than 300% while profits have also increased significantly.

And we are just getting started. Ted’s team is working hard to integrate all 4 businesses into a single Writech Group, sharing tools and best practices across the Group to create a whole that is significantly more than the sum of the parts. We are also continuing to identify other acquisition targets which will further diversify the product offering and geographical exposure; watch this space for further announcements.

Supporting innovation and design

In addition to supporting the execution of the international growth plan, Waterland has supported Ted to deliver his vision of building an industry-leading Innovation and Design Center at the Writech headquarters in Mullingar, Ireland. An openness to innovation in all aspects of its work is a key part of Writech’s differentiation and ongoing success, and we are committed to maintaining the business’ reputation as a thought leader by continually investing in R&D, design and new technologies to increase efficiency, productivity and sustainability.

A fully engaged team

Waterland views all of our investments as true partnerships. Our role is to support family-run companies, founders, business owners and management teams to scale their companies faster and more effectively than they could from their own resources. We do that by providing support with strategy, internationalization, recruitment of senior leaders and of course origination and execution of M&A throughout Europe and beyond.

We are as passionate about our portfolio companies as the entrepreneurs and families that we partner with, and we are proud to work as hard as they do to achieve our shared goals. We look forward to supporting many more Irish companies and businesses to become European leaders in their fields of expertise.

“The partnership with Waterland has allowed us to accelerate our ambitious European growth strategy through the acquisition of Compco and JEM Pumps in the UK, Ce Sprinkler in Sweden and the development of a world class innovation and design center in Mullingar.”