Real Deals Q&A with Paul Dawson, CEO of Agena Group

Agena Group CEO Paul Dawson sat down with Real Deals to talk about how Sovereign has helped his business to develop a sophisticated tech-enabled offering, identify acquisition targets and diversify into new markets.

Sovereign Capital Partners invested in Agena Group back in 2019. What does Agena Group do and what has your growth journey been so far?

Paul Dawson: Agena is a tech-enabled service provider looking after parking assets in the education, healthcare, hospitality, retail and residential sectors. We are one of the largest parking operators in the UK and have achieved double-digit organic growth every year since our inception, thanks to the strength and expertise of our highly experienced leadership team of sector specialists.

In your experience, what is the key to a successful acquisition?

We have acquired four parking operators to date, including the initial platform, and have learnt that being clear on the purpose of the acquisition is paramount. For us, that means increasing market share or filling a capability gap. The perfect acquisition will do both. Alignment of values is key, as is a carefully considered and executed post-deal integration plan. Being open and honest with vendors about your intentions and delivering on those intentions is critical. It shows that you can be trusted.

Having completed 25 acquisitions in my career, I understand the importance of not waiting too long to embark on the integration phase. There can be a tendency to avoid interfering in the early days, but pushing ahead with integration helps bring people into the business and makes them feel part of the acquiring group – that is something we have had particular success with.

What role has tech-enablement played in the development of the business?

One of our acquisitions was a tech provider that helped us create a broader set of data and tech-enabled solutions for our clients. We are managing 5,000 car parks across the country, capturing around one million vehicles every day, and collecting millions of pounds of revenue on behalf of our clients.

The ability to turn that data into insight has taught us so much about how our parking assets are utilised, enabling us to tailor services to customer needs and demonstrate a meaningful ESG impact. Now, with the advent of AI, there is so much more we can start to do to enhance services. It is an exciting time for any business with technology at its heart.

What is your approach to ESG?

Our ESG journey has been incredibly rewarding. Last year, we became a carbon neutral company, and we have made important changes to eliminate landfill waste. We have invested heavily in mentorship and apprenticeship schemes, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives. From a governance perspective, we are constantly testing ourselves against external standards and have a suite of ISO accreditations, as well as being an NHS Mindful Employer. It is rewarding to set those targets, achieve them and make a real difference. Moreover, our strong, high-quality ESG credentials have been instrumental in securing bids, with several wins attributed directly to this commitment.

What value has private equity ownership brought to the business?

Sovereign’s skills and expertise have complemented our management team in a range of areas. Most obviously in sourcing acquisition targets, but also in encouraging us to look beyond our core competencies in terms of both markets and geographies. They are able to bring a different perspective to the table, leveraging insights from their wider portfolio, not least of all their experience of tech-enablement, which was key for us as we built our technology infrastructure and enhanced our use of data and analytics.

What does that mean for your future growth?

There is plenty of room for further organic growth in our existing market. Around 30% of the assets we take under management have never been managed before. We also see opportunities to work with the new government, providing parking infrastructure for new housing and helping to facilitate the conversion to electric vehicles.

We are also diversifying into new markets, including the world of local authorities. Our data insights can add a lot of value to these local authority customers, and we believe we will be able to take a significant market share. In addition, we are taking our core set of technology capabilities and applying them to adjacent sectors. Historically, our technology has been used to allow people to pay in a car park. Now, the same technology is being used to allow people to moor their boats and yachts.

Finally, we are embarking on a geographical expansion strategy to internationalise the business, initially with a move into Europe. We are already seeing strong opportunities for both acquisitive and organic growth outside of the UK and see ourselves as the European consolidator of choice.