HSL Compliance

Leading provider of environmental compliance services in the UK

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Herefordshire, UK, HSL Compliance (“HSL” or “the Company”) is a leading testing, inspection, compliance and certification (“TICC”) company which provides a range of environmental compliance services. The Company’s focus is on water hygiene, water treatment and chemical effluent treatment, with additional services covering fire safety, air quality and asbestos.

Established through a carve-out from Kiwa in 2019, HSL has earned a reputation for itself as a high-quality business, delivering comprehensive water hygiene and treatment services to more than 370 public and private sector clients. Operating a national delivery model with 19 offices across the UK and Ireland, the Company is well-equipped to support complex estates seeking a full-service compliance solution. Its 650 highly skilled employees serve a loyal and diverse customer base of companies predominantly in the Food & Beverage and Manufacturing sectors.

IK Partners invested in HSL through the IK Small Cap III Fund in March 2025, acquiring its stake from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. As part of the transaction, both LDC and the HSL management team reinvested.

What Attracted Us to the Business

• Large, mature and growing market, underpinned by regulatory demand
• Strong national presence and competitive edge
• Proven M&A track record in a highly fragmented market

Our Value Creation Strategy

We are working alongside management to:

• Pursue expansion into multi-disciplinary services
• Invest further in existing capabilities to enhance service offering; and
• Execute strategic add-on opportunities across the UK water market.

Quote from the Client

“HSL has grown tremendously since inception and with the recent add-on acquisitions, I believe we have built an extremely solid foundation for the future, having established HSL as a market-leading TICC service provider in the UK. The new partnership with IK will allow us to continue executing a targeted buy-and-build strategy and explore new opportunities to broaden our service offering.”

Gavin Hartley, Chief Executive Officer of HSL