Rutland Partners is priming the sale of portfolio company, UK utilities services provider JSM Group, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The sponsor has engaged advisory firm Clearwater to guide an auction process for the Hertfordshire-based power and communications network services provider, one of the sources said.

The vendor aims to launch the process in 2Q, with the business expected to attract trade players and financial investors alike, this source said. A fourth source familiar with the matter suggested that the auction process is further advanced, having made it past the initial preparation stage.

JSM posted an operating profit of GBP 3.3m on revenues of GBP 115m for the year ended 31 December 2022, Companies House records show. Group EBITDA increased to GBP 15m in 2022, from GBP 13.6m the previous year.

Rutland Partners made an undisclosed investment in JSM in 2021 via its third fund, Rutland Fund III.

JSM has a Likely to Exit (LTE) score of 16, according to Mergermarket’s predictive algorithm*. The score, out of 100, shows the model’s confidence of the sponsor exiting a 30% or more stake in a portfolio company. JSM’s score factors in the lower-than-average sponsor exit rate for its region and sector.

Founded in 1998, JSM, which operates across two divisions – Power and Communications – describes itself as a market leading infrastructure provider, servicing the UK’s core infrastructure fibre and mobile networks, as well as other multi-utility projects.

JSM Group and Clearwater declined to comment. Rutland Partners did not respond to requests for comment.

*Mergermarket’s LTE predictive analytics assign a score to sponsor-backed companies to help track and predict when an exit could occur through M&A, an IPO, a direct listing or a deSPAC transaction.