Going global through acquisitions

Aspen Group’s journey with Inflexion has seen the business build an international footprint across Europe, the US and increasingly Asia Pacific, with regional leadership aligned under a global structure.

Inflexion’s first investment in Aspen 20 years ago helped the business triple EBITDA as it doubled international sales, expanded distribution into 100 countries and strengthened its position in product innovation. Following a reinvestment in 2020, Aspen has tripled EBITDA again through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, including a transformational US acquisition that now acts as its platform for the North American market. Around half of Aspen’s annual 20% growth since reinvestment has come through M&A, with 18 acquisitions completed.

“Each acquisition is about three things: expanding our product range by taking brands international, enhancing our distribution and warehouse infrastructure to bring Aspen products to new markets and gain proximity to customers, and integrating strong local sales teams with the wider Aspen Group,” explains Adrian Thompson, CEO of Aspen.

The company’s impressive acquisition cadence is possible because of its relationship approach, with its network built up over many years helping them to identify potential partners. And because there is already a relationship, Aspen are often front of mind when they consider a sale.

This means most of Aspen’s deals are off-market – including its largest acquisition, Malco Tools in the US, as well as Aurü in Germany and Veto Pro Pac in the US in 2025.

Alongside geographic expansion, Aspen is increasing its agility through vertical integration. Historically, only 20% of products were manufactured in-house, with a long-term goal to increase this to 70%. Acquisitions are helping accelerate this shift. In Malaysia, small metalwork business LNE Network Systems has been transformed into a 50,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility producing Aspen pumps and isolators, strengthening supply chain resilience, quality control and speed to market.

"Inflexion’s biggest value add has been the strategy development and supporting the acquisitions. We have one united strategy and work together as a team. Some firms buy you and have their own plans but Inflexion are very much a partner," affirms Adrien. 

Axiom GRC’s organic growth since its carve out has been complemented by an ambitious acquisition strategy, helping the business expand its GRC solutions internationally across the UK, Europe, and North America.

Axiom GRC was created following Inflexion’s carve-out of listed Marlowe’s Governance, Risk & Compliance division in 2024. The business provides software and tech-enabled compliance services that help organisations manage risk, meet regulatory obligations and navigate increasingly complex legal requirements.

Today, Axiom offers an integrated compliance proposition, combining subscription-based tech-enabled services with specialist advisory offerings tailored to both SMEs and large global enterprises. Since its carve out, Axiom has focused on organic growth through cross-selling, new product launches and investment in sales and marketing capabilities. This strategy has been strengthened by an active M&A programme, with seven acquisitions completed. 

Acquisitions are a central part of Axiom’s international growth strategy, particularly in North America, where M&A is helping expand both capability and geographic reach.

The 2025 acquisition of IS Partners, a specialist provider of audit, attestation and compliance services, strengthened Axiom’s expertise in risk management, employment compliance and regulatory intelligence — areas benefiting from strong long-term demand in the US market. Inflexion supported sourcing and relationship development to help secure the transaction.

Later in 2025, Axiom completed its sixth acquisition since independence with the purchase of AssurancePoint, further strengthening its US platform and reinforcing its ambition to provide a turnkey compliance solution spanning consultancy, technology and audit. In June Axiom acquired MHM, a Canadian compliance assurance firm, continuing to build its capabilities serving the North American market.

And the momentum is building, with Inflexion’s international support highly valuable. 

“As we have built scale, Inflexion’s international support has made conversations with acquisition targets easier and helped us establish a reputation in the market,” said Alex Dacre, CEO, Axiom GRC.

“The first acquisition was naturally the hardest because we had limited presence in the market. But as we have grown our footprint, momentum has started to build. We’re beginning to establish a reputation in North America and that is making future conversations easier,” Alex notes. He points to the network and credibility of Inflexion’s North American office lead Ben Meyer within the investment banking and corporate finance community as particularly helpful. 

Today, Axiom GRC supports more than 30,000 clients globally and employs over 1,500 specialists across the UK, US, Europe and Israel.

A collaborative acquisition strategy combined with sector expertise have helped Celnor rapidly scale into an increasingly international testing, inspection, certification and compliance (TICC) group.

Since launching in 2023 with Inflexion’s backing, Celnor has grown at pace by consolidating highly fragmented markets while preserving the specialist expertise and entrepreneurial culture of its founder-led businesses. What began as an ambition to create a UK leader has evolved into a broader international platform spanning Analytical Sciences, Planning & Development, Safety & Compliance and Risk Management.

The strategy began close to home. Throughout its first two years, Celnor focused on building density in the UK, completing eight acquisitions in its first year and stepping up to fourteen the following year as it assembled a platform spanning environmental, safety, testing and compliance specialisms. With that base established, the group turned outward, entering the United States in early 2025 with its first North American acquisition and has completed a further two since. Later that year it moved into Europe, adding two French businesses that strengthened its environmental and testing capabilities, before extending its reach into Ireland with three acquisitions in 2026. To date, the group has completed almost 50 acquisitions.

The pace of growth reflects the ambitions of founder Simon Parrington and backer Inflexion. Simon founded Celnor after identifying a gap in the market, and having completed multiple acquisitions earlier in his career at Cawood Scientific, another testing business, he recognised that many founders wanted the stability and resources of a larger group without losing independence.

“There are a lot of small business owners looking to be part of something bigger, with the benefits and security of being part of a large group but without being fully controlled and owned by someone else,” explains Simon.

Celnor’s model preserves local expertise and culture while supporting businesses to scale through thoughtful integration. The model has helped attract increasingly larger opportunities as the group grows.
Inflexion brings experience in precisely the sector Simon is focused on. In addition to Cawood Inflexion had backed Phenna Group (23 acquisitions tripling headcount in an 18-month partnership), Alcumus (nine acquisitions expanding the offering and international footprint) and BES Group (15 acquisitions broadening the product reach).

“Inflexion’s dedicated funds for different stages of our journey were a big attraction, and once I got to know the Inflexion team, I saw the strong backbone of resource they could offer,” says Simon.

dss+ is a global provider of specialist operations management consulting services with a purpose of saving lives and creating a sustainable future.

The Switzerland-headquartered firm was carved out of DuPont in 2019 as DuPont Sustainable Solutions and was then backed as dss+ by Inflexion in 2023. It has completed five acquisitions since. These acquisitions were not merely financial transactions but strategic moves to enhance capabilities. CEO Davide Vassallo emphasises, “we acquire for strategic value, not just EBITDA. It’s about creating something together that neither party could achieve alone.”

The latest was the acquisition of Lauras International in the US in summer 2026. The acquisition of the Chicago-based firm will deepen the dss+ offering, expanding its capabilities in operational performance improvement, rapid value release and asset management, and strengthen its presence in key growth sectors. It was the third North American acquisition for the business, which last year acquired Proaction, a specialist safety and operational-excellence consultancy based in Canada. 

These deals enhance dss+’s ability to support clients across regulated industries with strong local teams delivering advisory, training and operational transformation services. Inflexion’s North America practice is supporting US-side engagement and sector connectivity. 

Previous acquisitions have provided expansion to service proposition, such as the purchase of ETSCAF in France in 2024, or a combination of offering, scale and geography, for example with the acquisition of Infrata in the UK the same year. 

Integration for all acquisitions is approached with respect and collaboration. “Each team we acquire brings its own legacy, culture, and beliefs,” says Davide. This focus on mutual respect ensures both parties grow stronger together.

“We’ve learned the importance of transparent communication and cultural education to avoid diluting our values, while embracing the strengths of new members. It means we import some better practices rather than being prescriptive of dss+ culture,'' said Davide Vassallo, CEO of dss+.  

And this lesson extends beyond communication. As dss+ has grown, the business has also learned that acquisitions work best when they are capability-led rather than financially driven, and when leadership evolves alongside the organisation's changing needs.

The company’s growth has seen it swell from 600 people at time of carve-out to 2,000 today. 

Easyfairs was already one of the world’s top 20 event organisers when the founder-run business decided to bring in external investment to accelerate growth. Having launched more than 100 events organically, the focus shifted to scaling faster through acquisitions, new geographies and deeper sector expertise. 

“We were a well-oiled machine but felt the time was right to take on external backing to go even faster. We’re enjoying this new journey very much,” says Co-CEO Matt Benyon, who shares the role with Anne Lafère. 

Following Inflexion Partnership Capital’s investment alongside Belgian investor Cobepa and founder Eric Everard, Easyfairs completed five acquisitions in its first financial year, exceeding its internal acquisition EBITDA targets and putting the business ahead of plan. These transactions have been deliberately balanced: smaller bolt-ons that deepen existing clusters, alongside more strategic transactions that open up new verticals or geographies.

Some of the latest acquisitions have gone further still. The purchase of Digital Accountancy Show will see the flagship London event benefit from Easyfairs’ pan-European network as the two businesses share a focus on technology and digital innovation. CHEMUK illustrates how Easyfairs deploys its value-creation playbook post-acquisition, enhancing content, commercial reach and operational infrastructure. Both of these acquired events have also expanded organically through geocloning under Easyfairs ownership, with Digital Accountancy Show USA launching in May 2027 and CHEMFRANCE in September 2027. Meanwhile, the acquisition of EPC (Energy Projects Conference & Exhibition) in Houston, Texas marks Easyfairs’ first US acquisition and is a strategic anchor in the North American market, complementing the successful launch of Coiltech North America — already the largest launch in Easyfairs’ history.

Its second US acquisition just took place in summer 2026, with the purchase of The AI Conference, a three-year-old business whose flagship event attracts 5,500 people in San Francisco. It was part of three purchases in as many months. Easyfairs also acquired Nordic Live Expo to strengthen its position in the Nordic exhibition market with B2B events in the technology, energy, and the public sector, and Xpo Group, adding 61 events across 17 European countries in sectors including construction and interior design, renewable energy, manufacturing and technology, food, retail, marketing and communication. 

These acquisitions followed two earlier deals in France, where the purchases of Food Hotel Tech and Tech for Retail strengthened Easyfairs' position in a market that is already home to its largest event, Paris Packaging Week.

Inflexion’s role has been to help Easyfairs move faster without losing discipline. The firm brings experience from scaling CloserStill Media internationally – eight acquisitions helped boost international revenues 6x during the partnership – and this provides a valuable framework for assessing acquisitions, integration risk and value creation potential.

“Inflexion are very quick to make decisions and they’ve brought the modelling aspect to the table. They’ve really brought sense to what we could do and how we could add value — even when purchasing at higher multiples,” said Matt Benyon, Co-CEO of Easyfairs.

He describes the relationship as collaborative. “They explained to us they are hands-with rather than hands-on— ‘we are here when you need us but will not micromanage’. This has absolutely been the case.” 

Easyfairs is also working with Inflexion’s commercial effectiveness specialists to strengthen its value proposition, while support from Inflexion’s sustainability expert is helping progress sustainability initiatives. Technology and AI are increasingly central to growth, supporting post-event analysis, market research and launch planning.

“There’s no doubt that data and AI are increasingly crucial,” Matt says. “We use it throughout the entire company on a day-to-day basis — including when we’re researching new launches, which saves us a huge amount of time.” 

With further acquisitions under review across Europe and the US, Easyfairs expects to have doubled in size since investment, while continuing to focus on the communities its events serve.