Global Fire and Life Safety Engineering Leader Jensen Hughes Acquires Italy-Based Fire Protection Engineering Firm

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Jun 30, 2021

Strategic acquisition of Jensen Hughes s.r.l. Continental Europe (JHM) expands Jensen Hughes' global market leadership by strengthening its ability to serve clients in Europe.

BALTIMORE, June 30, 2021 – Jensen Hughes, a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting, announced today its acquisition of long-time partner and Milan-based Jensen Hughes s.r.l. Continental Europe (JHM). A market leader in fire protection engineering based in Italy, JHM has expertise in performance-based design, code consulting and permitting services in complex commercial, hospitality, insurance and manufacturing industries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"JHM officially becoming part of the JH family embodies a natural progression based on a mutually beneficial partnership that has spanned over the past three decades. President Luciano Nigro, Managing Director Gaetano Coppola and their team have built an impressive business focused on providing high-quality client service. JHM has a history rooted in expertise with global codes. In addition to Italian code knowledge, they have expertise in International Building Codes (IBC) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards," said Raj Arora, CEO, Jensen Hughes.

JHM is one of the most recent strategic acquisitions by Jensen Hughes, a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, that reflects the company's long-term commitment to deliver its integrated, end-to-end services to the global market. The acquisition strengthens Jensen Hughes' ability to help clients in the fire, building and safety industry and implement global best practices to manage these in a prevention-oriented and cost-effective manner.

In addition to its investments worldwide, Jensen Hughes' focus on the European market includes its 2018 acquisition of the UK and Ireland firm Jeremy Gardner Associates (JGA), 2019 acquisition of International Fire Investigators and Consultants (IFIC), 2020 acquisition of L2 Fire Safety in Finland and the recent acquisition of Belgium-based company FES Ghent (FESG).

JHM's Continental Europe branch was established in Milan, Italy, in 1982 under the name of Industrial Loss Control & Engineering s.r.l (ILC s.r.l). In 1999, ILC established a partnership with Hughes Associates Inc. (HAI), the US leading company in Fire Science & Engineering. Through the years, thanks to the constantly growing partnership with HAI, the ILC name was changed to Hughes Associate Europe. Starting from the beginning of 2018 and through a franchise agreement, HAE s.r.l has been doing business as Jensen Hughes.

"For nearly four decades, we have built a scalable business around our clients' need for performance-based design, code consulting and permitting services," said Luciano Nigro, JHM President. "Jensen Hughes is just as deeply committed to technical excellence as JHM has been since our founding. Its market leadership, global scale and deep bench of scientists, engineers and consultants opens up tremendous opportunities to provide an even more holistic solution for our clients."

For more information, visit jensenhughes.com or jensenhughes.com/europe.

About Jensen Hughes

Jensen Hughes is the global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting. Every day, our international teams of 1,400+ engineers, technical experts, architects and consultants partner with clients in 100+ countries to make our world safe, secure and resilient. Since 1939, we have earned trust among our clients, people and communities by bringing integrity to our relationships, innovation to our industry and technical excellence to many of the most complex challenges in the world. Our major business lines include fire protection engineering, risks and hazards, security risk consulting, emergency management and planning, and forensic engineering. For more information, visit www.jensenhughes.com.

About JHM

Founded in 1982, JHM is a market-leading fire protection engineering firm comprised of a highly experienced and passionate team committed to delivering technical excellence for clients across the full spectrum of services. Operating in Italy, our clients trust us to design creative solutions through a performance-based approach and provide the optimum safety measures. For more information, visit jensenhughes.com/europe.

About Gryphon Investors
Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. The firm has managed over $5.0 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $50 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with enterprise values ranging from approximately $100 million to $600 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon's capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.