JGA Fire Engineering acquired by Jensen Hughes

Jeremy Gardner Associates (JGA) was acquired by Jensen Hughes, a Maryland-headquartered global safety, security, and risk-based engineering consultancy, and a portfolio company of US private equity firm Gryphon Investors.

The acquisition completed in August 2018.

The value and terms of the transaction were not publicly disclosed.

JGA's founder, Jeremy Gardner, was advised on the business sale by Mark Sapsford, who led the sell-side engagement and later co-founded CapEQ in July 2020.

Acquirers consistently prioritise a specialist team with chartered fire engineers, a portfolio of completed projects on landmark or technically demanding developments, recurring relationships with major property clients, and clean compliance and intellectual property positions. In-house technical methodologies and contributions to fire engineering codes can support a stronger valuation.

The UK and Ireland market appeals to overseas acquirers for several reasons: a mature English-language regulatory and professional services framework, demanding planning and fire safety standards that build deep technical capability, and a steady pipeline of complex commercial, residential, and infrastructure projects. Acquiring an established firm is often faster and lower risk than building a UK presence from scratch, particularly in a regulated sector.

Private equity-backed buyers — like Gryphon-backed Jensen Hughes — typically focus on revenue quality, repeat client relationships, technical defensibility, leadership depth below the founder, and scope to add the business onto a wider platform. They also test exposure to regulatory tailwinds around UK building safety reform, and assess how dependent the firm is on its founder for client wins and delivery.

Most mid-market deals combine an upfront cash payment with an element of deferred consideration, typically tied to revenue, EBITDA, or client retention targets over one to three years. Earnouts are common where the acquirer wants the founder engaged through integration, and rollover equity into the buyer's group is also seen with private equity-backed acquirers.

Founders in this sector face a recurring set of pressures: recruiting and retaining chartered fire engineers in a tight talent market, keeping pace with evolving Building Safety Act requirements, scaling beyond a founder-led delivery model, managing professional indemnity exposure on increasingly complex projects, and balancing growth ambition against the practice culture many firms were built on.

The Building Safety Act 2022 and the surrounding regulatory regime have significantly raised the technical and accountability bar for fire safety work in the UK, particularly on higher-risk buildings. For founders, this means stronger demand for genuine expertise and rising barriers to entry, but also a higher liability tail and more rigorous client and insurer scrutiny. Many founders use this moment to either invest in capability or consider an exit to a larger platform.

Most founder-led engineering and building consultancy firms eventually choose between four broad routes: a management buyout funded by debt or external capital, a sale to a strategic trade buyer, a sale to a private equity-backed consolidator, or an Employee Ownership Trust. Each route carries different implications for valuation, transition timeline, cultural continuity, and tax — working through the options two to three years ahead gives founders the best chance of a sale on their own terms.

Demand consistently outstrips supply for experienced fire protection engineers across the UK and Ireland. Founders typically manage three connected issues: paying market-leading salaries while protecting margins, building a development pathway that retains junior engineers through chartership, and creating a leadership layer below the founder that allows the business to scale beyond personal capacity.