UK-based global risk management firm Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) is pursuing acquisitions that will strengthen its footprint and offering, CEO Ian Spaulding told Mergermarket.

The company, which had 2025 revenues of more than GBP 500m, is looking to make 10 deals this year, he said. Five of these are already at the exclusivity stage, he said.

LRQA expects to announce several transactions in the next few weeks, he added.

Targets could be peers with revenues from around USD 3m (GBP 2.2m) or USD 4m to around USD 20m or USD 30m, Spaulding said.

While the firm’s previous deals were nearer the lower end of this range, more of the current targets on the table have revenues of USD 10m-plus, he said.

LRQA is interested in businesses offering services and software, the CEO said.

It is currently looking at targets worldwide, including the US, UK, China, Japan, and other parts of Asia, he said.

Target sourcing is through a combination of in-house and inbound from advisors and owners. It uses external advisors for financial, commercial and IT due diligence lawyers to close deals, he said.

While the Birmingham-headquartered company operates in 150 markets worldwide, it is “sub-scale” in some of these geographies, Spaulding said.

“Historically, the majority of our revenue has been in Europe and the UK, which are mature, highly regulated markets. These are fantastic markets, but we have been under-represented in some others, particularly in Asia and the Americas,” he said.

LRQA has been focusing on “bulking up” in the Americas, China and the APAC region, he added.

“That does not mean in any way that we are stepping away from our core home markets. It just means that we are trying to be a bit more diversified geographically,” Spaulding said, pointing out that the company has made a number of acquisitions in its European and UK core markets.

Another focus for M&A is in certain sector and product areas, the CEO said.

“We have continued to add some sectors that we are incredibly bullish on and where we believe we could grow further. That includes cybersecurity,” Spaulding said, pointing out that LRQA has made a couple of recent acquisitions in the cybersecurity space.

Historically, most of LRQA’s cybersecurity business has been in the UK, US and Singapore, and it wants to expand its cyber solutions offering to other countries within its existing footprint, he said.

Another key area of interest is environmental, social and governance (ESG), including new greener energy sources from an ESG perspective, Spaulding said. Many of LRQA’s customers, including energy and oil & gas companies, are investing in greener energy sources and are seeking more support for ESG-related services, he said.

The firm is also interested in expanding in data analytics, Spaulding said. LRQA has recently built and launched a new supply-chain intelligence platform, EiQ, and is interested in acquiring companies with unique data sets and software that it could add and integrate into this, he said.

This could include non-conformance data and other elements of risk such as cyber risk or broader risk indexes, Spaulding said.

Through such acquisitions, the company can complement and expand on its data lake to give additional insights, and help customers identify and manage risk more holistically, he said.

Labour and human rights is another key focus for the company, Spaulding said, adding that LRQA is one of the largest players globally in the field of social labour audits.

At the same time, it remains interested in opportunistic acquisitions to consolidate the market and expand further in its core markets, the CEO said. This could include most European countries including, for example, France, he said.

The company seeks to acquire a 100% stake in targets, he said, adding that many selling owners opt to acquire LRQA stock as part of the transaction.

Deals are financed through a combination of balance sheet and debt financing provided by a range of banks, he said.

LRQA announced last June that it had completed five acquisitions over the previous few months. The targets included UK labour rights and gender-equality specialist Ergon Associates and RESET Carbon, a carbon management provider in Hong Kong. The other targets were StepUp Solution Services (Canada), a food safety authority company; and Core Business Solutions, a provider of advisory services and software for quality management systems, and EcoEngineers, an energy transition consultancy, both in the US, as reported.

The integration of acquired companies, including systems, HR, finance, legal, marketing and branding, is a key consideration for M&A, the CEO said.

LRQA offers solutions in ESG, supply chain, cybersecurity, assurance, and risk management, according to its website.

The company was carved out of Lloyd’s Register, and became a fully independent business 100% owned by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management in December 2021.

An exit is not in the works, the CEO said.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management declined to comment.

LRQA has more than 61,000 clients in critical sectors including supply chain, energy, manufacturing, and sustainability. It has more than 6,400 employees and contractors worldwide.

“Day in, day out, we can see the emerging risk that all of us are confronted with, whether that’s geopolitical, trade or technology related,” he said.

“We see the opportunities everywhere we look because companies want to grow, evolve and manage their business better. Managing risk is part of running a great business. Artificial intelligence (AI) presents some risks to many companies, but also creates wonderful opportunities if they can manage AI responsibly,” he said.

Governments, as well as companies, need support with investing into new energy sources correctly and safely, as well as with navigating the complexities of regulation, he said.

LRQA recently announced the appointment of Didier Michaud-Daniel as chair of its board of directors. The appointment strengthens its leadership, as it continues to expand its global risk management services, according to the deal announcement.