Hill Dickinson’s Manchester corporate team has advised Waterland Private Equity on a multi-million pound investment in Gas Tag, the pioneering technology company.

The deal, which values Gas Tag at well in excess of £20 million, will enable the Liverpool-headquartered business to continue to scale up rapidly both within the UK and internationally.

In return for the investment, Waterland will gain a minority stake and two of its senior team will join the board of the company.

Waterland Private Equity has been established in Europe since 1999 but only launched its UK office in early 2017. Waterland was this year named the top performing private equity firm in the world in 2017 by private equity analytics firm Peracs.

The Gas Tag deal is the first investment made by Waterland’s UK team.

The Hill Dickinson team was led by corporate partner David Mkhitarian, and included James Down and James Redshaw.

David Mkhitarian said: ‘we are delighted to have supported Waterland on its maiden UK investment and wish them and the team at Gas Tag all the very best for the success of the business. This deal demonstrates the continued growth of our corporate team and our private equity offering.’

Gas Tag was founded in 2015 by Paul Durose and Stephen Ullathorne and already has a number of high-profile customers and significant order book. It harnesses the latest technology to help landlords, housing associations and local authorities to combat the scourge of illegal gas fitters and enforce gas safety regulations. As soon as a physical Gas Tag is installed on the gas outlet in a property, the software platform tracks and records all of the property’s gas appliances and any gas works carried out at the property – and can only be used by qualified Gas Safe registered engineers.

Barry Sheerman, MP and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group, has described Gas Tag as ‘the most significant quantum leap in domestic gas safety compliance in 20 years’.

Waterland UK’s managing director, Andy Scaife, and senior investment manager Ryan Hallworth, will join the board of Gas Tag.

Scaife said: ‘Gas Tag is a hugely exciting and innovative company, exactly the kind of business Waterland looks to invest in’.

‘We were impressed by the vision of the company and its senior management team. As soon as we met with Paul and Stephen and saw the impact Gas Tag was making in the industry, we knew it was an investment we wanted to make’.