Landscaping business branches out again as latest acquisition creates £245m turnover group

The Nurture Group has announced its 50th and largest acquisition to date with the purchase of Oldham’s Tivoli Group, in a deal which creates a £245m turnover business.

Tivoli was the fourth largest player in grounds maintenance and landscaping sector with an annual turnover in excess of £70m.

The acquisition of Tivoli follows on from several recent acquisitions completed in 2024, including arboriculture specialists Gristwood & Toms, and three grounds maintenance businesses – Roy Cowie, Spacecare and Hortech, which together have expanded both the range of services offered by Nurture Group.

The Tivoli brand will be retained and will sit alongside the other four brands in the Nurture Group. The transferring teams will continue to serve their clients, operating as Tivoli under the Nurture Group banner alongside Nurture Landscapes, Gavin Jones, Gristwood & Toms and Nurture Pest Control.

The Nurture Group is led by executive chairman and founder of the Nurture Group, Peter Fane, and Gareth Kirkwood OBE, CEO and delivered impressive growth year on year since it was formed in 2008.

Today more than half of those employed by Nurture joined the organisation through acquisitions, including many in senior leadership positions.

Tivoli Group was formed from a carve-out from the UK grounds maintenance division of ISS, one of the largest integrated facilities management businesses in the world, rebranding as Tivoli in 2018.

The acquisition of Tivoli brings the story full circle for Peter Fane, who founded Waterers Landscapes in 1983, before successfully selling the business to ISS in 2003 to form their UK grounds maintenance division. Fane served on the board of ISS for four years, before founding Nurture in 2008.

Tivoli has built a strong presence with a range of government and public sector clients, including the UK’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) – who plan, build and maintain the estate infrastructure for the Ministry of Defence, and in addition provide services to housing associations, healthcare estates, local authorities and educational establishments.

Fane said: “This is a superb marriage of differentiated businesses with much history and mutual respect. The combination of our skills, clients, reach and greater scale will put Nurture indisputably at the pinnacle of our sector. The enhanced scale and density across Great Britain, particularly in key segments, will drive greater operational efficiencies, delivery of an even better experience for clients, with improved value, range and service quality. At the same time, our shared commitment to direct service delivery through our employees will enhance the experience for our colleagues on the ground.”

Kirkwood added: “Today marks a significant milestone for the Nurture Group as we celebrate a key acquisition for our business. This strategic move underscores our commitment to sustainable growth and diversification, while aligning perfectly with our mission, and values.

“Both the Nurture Group and Tivoli share a common purpose – enhancing the landscape, improving biodiversity and sustainability for our clients and delivering service excellence – which makes this partnership a natural fit. Together, we are well-positioned to serve our clients across the private and public sectors with truly national coverage service, and a broad range of directly delivered services including Landscape Design and Construction, Grounds Maintenance, Winter Gritting, Arboriculture, Interior and Exterior Plant Displays, Pest Control and Green Solutions. This will enable us to provide even greater service to our clients while further enhancing our ESG commitments.”

Tivoli’s outgoing chief executive Nicola Keach said: “I am incredibly proud of what the Tivoli team has built and achieved with Sullivan Street’s support. It is testament to the hard work, passion and commitment of our teams over many years. Our values and culture are aligned with Nurture’s as well as a strong commitment for delivering best in class services for our customers, which is why I am delighted that the next stage of our journey will be together as a combined organisation with the Tivoli brand continuing to serve our valued clients. The blending of our complementary technical and operational skills and resources will add real value to clients and colleagues alike.”

The deal marks an exit for Sullivan Street Partners.

Layton Tamberlin, managing partner of Sullivan Street, said: “In many ways this was a classic Sullivan Street deal, where we were not deterred by significant complexity on entry and were ready to roll up our sleeves to tackle the business’ operational challenges in the early years of our ownership. We are incredibly proud of the first-class business we have helped build at Tivoli and for the last few years it has been rewarding to watch the business succeed so well. We know Nurture well and believe the business and all its employees are going to an excellent home, and that the combination with Nurture will be a perfect fit to continue delivering a best-in-class service to its customers.”