Tasmea (ASX:TEA) buys electrical contractor Maxim for A$254m at just 5.4x EBIT

A 31% EPS accretion and A$1.3 billion pipeline reshape the electrical segment overnight.

Tasmea (ASX:TEA) has signed a Share Purchase Agreement to buy 100% of Maxim Group Australia (a specialist electrical contractor) for up to A$254 million, with settlement targeted around 1 July 2026 subject to ACCC approval.

The headline numbers are striking. Tasmea is paying roughly 5.4x FY26e EBIT for a business forecast to deliver A$47 million of underlying EBIT this year, and management is calling out approximately 31% pro forma EPS accretion in FY26e on an ex-synergies basis.

Maxim has around 600 staff, a track record of 450 completed projects and a forward pipeline of more than A$1.3 billion. The strategic point is that it bolts a credible Data Centre, BESS and major rail infrastructure franchise onto Tasmea’s existing trades platform.

Post-deal, Tasmea’s Electrical segment EBIT lifts to approximately A$100 million and net debt sits at around 0.8x pro forma FY26e EBITDA, comfortably inside the group’s 1.0x target. The question for investors is whether the multiple, the structure and the integration math actually stack up.

Why 5.4x EBIT is the number to dwell on

A 5.4x FY26e EBIT multiple for a business growing organic revenue at roughly 70% CAGR from FY24 to FY26e looks cheap on the face of it. Most listed electrical and infrastructure services peers trade well north of that on a comparable basis, and Maxim’s exposure to data centres and BESS is exactly the mix the market currently pays up for.

The structure also matters. Of the A$254 million headline, only A$184 million is payable upfront, and A$72 million of that is Tasmea scrip issued to the vendors at A$6.00 a share with a floor price guarantee to 30 June 2027.

The remaining A$70 million sits in a three-year earn-out tied to Maxim hitting A$50 million of Maintainable EBIT in each of FY27, FY28 and FY29. If Maxim underperforms, Tasmea simply does not pay. That is a sensible way to buy a fast-growing private business.

The data centre and rail exposure is the actual prize

Maxim brings a multi-year delivery track record with one of Australia’s largest data centre operators and what management describes as more than seven years of forward pipeline visibility in Victoria. DC Byte and Data Centres Australia have the Victorian DC market growing at roughly 22% CAGR through CY30, so this is not a cyclical bet.

Equally important is the rail-inducted workforce. Maxim has over 200 VEDN-accredited personnel working across Metro Tunnel, West Gate Tunnel, North East Link and Suburban Rail Loop, which are the four flagship Victorian state programmes.

That accreditation is not easily replicated. It is the kind of operational moat that makes the 5.4x multiple look more defensible than the headline suggests.

Where we would push back on management’s framing

Our concern is the customer concentration buried inside the data centre exposure. Maxim’s DC credentials rest heavily on a single major operator, and any disruption to that relationship would materially change the FY27 and FY28 revenue visibility numbers being marketed today.

ACCC approval is also not a formality under Australia’s new mandatory merger control regime, particularly for a deal that explicitly positions Tasmea as a national specialist electrical platform. We would not assume the 1 July settlement date is guaranteed.

And the 31% EPS accretion assumes a full 12 months of Maxim ownership in FY26, which will not actually happen. The real FY27 number, once the earn-out hurdles, integration costs and ACCC timing wash through, is the one investors should be modelling.

The Investors Takeaway for Tasmea

The deal economics look genuinely attractive. A 5.4x multiple on a fast-growing electrical contractor with data centre and major rail exposure, funded partly in scrip with a three-year earn-out, is a structure that protects Tasmea shareholders if Maxim does not deliver.

The harder question is cultural. Tasmea is buying a 600-person business whose value depends on a leadership team with 30, 26 and 9 years of tenure respectively. The retention package and earn-out alignment look well designed, but integration risk in services acquisitions is the failure mode that has wrecked plenty of similar roll-ups.

Investors can find more in-depth coverage of ASX-listed industrials and infrastructure services names at stocksdownunder. The FY27 result will be the first real test of whether this deal earns the multiple expansion the strategic narrative implies.