A leading contract cleaning and facilities management firm in the North East has acquired a local competitor.
Sunderland’s Maxim Facilities Management has bought Total Facilities Management (NE) Ltd, which specialises in providing daily contract cleaning services for a wide range of commercial clients in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, for an undisclosed six-figure sum.
Total FM’s founder Richard Fowler has joined Maxim FM’s senior team as part of the transaction, while his 150-strong team has been added to the Maxim workforce to take it past the 1,500 mark.
Maxim FM provides commercial contract cleaning and facilities management services to public and private sector clients, and works with organisations that include Hitachi, Quorn, Gentoo and the Scottish Prison Service.
The company is working towards its long-term goal of becoming a £20m turnover company with around 2,000 employees, and recently picked up a new £1.5m contract with a West Midlands academy chain.
Founder and managing director Graham Conway said: “We are already firmly established as the North East’s largest independent cleaning and facilities management firm, and bringing Total FM’s workforce and client base on board further strengthens this position.
“The business already has an impressive presence across the North East, as well as a strong team of people delivering the services their clients require, and we’re very pleased to be bringing Richard onboard to help us to build on what he and we have already achieved within the region.
“There’s no denying that this has been a very challenging year for ourselves and many of our clients, but the importance of cleaning and hygiene has clearly never been more important and we’ve been able to keep the business moving forward as a result.”
Total FM founder Richard Fowler said: “It was especially important to me that all the members of my team would be properly looked after as part of the sale of the business and Maxim
made the firm commitment on this that I was looking for.
“There’s no better company in our sector in the North and it’s exciting for me to be joining a business that has clear ambitions to keep growing.”
