Infrastructure Professionals Enterprise Global Pvt Ltd (IPE Global), a New Delhi-based research and consulting services provider, has acquired UK-based international development-consulting firm Triple Line Consulting Ltd, for an undisclosed amount, the company said in a release.
The acquisition will help IPE Group expand its footprint in the development sector to over 100 countries globally with offices across Africa, Asia and Europe. Triple Line will continue to serve with its current name and under the technical direction of its founders and directors David Smith and Lydia Richardson, respectively. As part of the deal, Ashwajit Singh, chairman and MD of IPE Global, would act as a non-executive chairman of Triple Line, and all the employees of Triple Line will become part of IPE Global.
Established in 1999, Triple Line provides technical expertise to improve life in poor and developing countries. Headquartered in London, the firm has implemented over 350 projects in over 70 countries.The firm’s clientele includes DFID, the European Commission, the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EURASIA Foundation, Comic Relief and SIDA as well as NGOs such as VSO and FERN.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Triple Line to become a global business. IPE Global and Triple Line have a strong cultural fit… We now will have the potential to be a leading global presence and will focus on building our work in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia”, said Lydia Richardson, founder and director, Triple Line.
“Joining forces with Triple Line will bring the groups’ international business to a scale that will enable us to offer value for money services in diverse areas of expertise ranging from Urban Infrastructure, Health, Education, Agriculture, Private Sector Development, Governance to Grants Management, Gender and Social Inclusion, M&E and Financial Management” said Ashwajit Singh.
IPE Global was founded in 1998 by a few alumni of London School of Economics, and is a leading development sector consultancy incorporated in India with subsidiaries and branches in Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. It is backed by UK-based private equity fund Henderson Equity Partners which invested $10 million to acquire a 26 per cent stake in the company in 2011.
