Mace expands East African offer with acquisition of stake in YMR

Mace, the UK-based global construction and consultancy firm, has acquired a significant stake of leading East African quantity surveying company, YMR.

Following the purchase, the new business will operate under the combined brand ‘MaceYMR’, offering a unique proposition to the regional market that will combine Mace’s global expertise with YMR’s local knowledge and reputation. This will allow it to offer a unique project management and integrated service offering across all of East Africa.

YMR is a leading Kenyan quantity surveying practice that has worked on some of the most high profile development projects in the region, including most of the major new retail malls such as Two Rivers, Garden City and the Hub Karen in Nairobi. YMR was also involved in the World Bank Office in Juba, South Sudan, the new Kigali City Tower, Rwanda, Acacia Plaza in Kampala and Tatu City, a 5000 acre mixed use residential, retail and commercial development site in Nairobi.

Mace is a global construction and consultancy company that is delivering some of the world’s most complex and challenging projects. These include Expo 2020 in Dubai, Battersea Power Station in London, the world’s tallest skyscraper, Kingdom Tower in Jeddah and the newly-opened Zeitz MOCAA art gallery in Cape Town, South Africa. 

The move comes as development activity in Nairobi and East Africa more generally is on the rise, driving an increased demand for high quality consultancy services from the construction industry. Kenyan construction alone is forecast to grow by 8.5% in 2017 and at 6.2% annually to 2026, outperforming even the strongest regional growth forecasts elsewhere in Africa. 

The acquisition of a significant stake of YMR is the second purchase that Mace has made in Africa in the last twelve months. Mace completed the acquisition of a stake in MMQS, a South African quantity surveying firm, in 2016, creating MMQSMace.

Jason Millett, Mace’s Chief Operating Officer for Consultancy, said: 

“The acquisition of this stake of YMR is the next step forward in Mace’s strategic regional expansion plans. 

“By combining YMR’s excellent local knowledge and Mace’s global scale, resource and expertise, we can transform our service offering in East Africa. We’ll be able to offer existing and potential clients a one-stop shop for high quality construction consultancy services.

“Following this purchase and our recent acquisition of MMQS in South Africa, we will continue to explore the potential to expand our offering across our global hubs through the strategic acquisition of niche consultancy firms with reputations for high quality services in order to strengthen our market position and provide an augmented offer to clients.”

Simon Herd, Managing Director for East Africa at MaceYMR, said: 

“This is the natural next step for YMR and will open up a huge range of opportunities for growth – for our existing clients, our business and all of the team here. 

“We will be  able to provide our existing clients a suite of new services delivered by Mace, as well as offering new customers a strengthened proposition that can’t be matched by anyone else in East Africa.“