Ricardo plc acquires Aither Pty. Ltd to grow its water consulting services

Ricardo plc, a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, today announces the acquisition of Aither Pty Ltd., a leading Australian consultancy in water and natural resources. 

Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Aither’s purpose is to help governments and business make better decisions about globally significant issues. It supports clients in navigating the uncertainty and complexity by providing clear evidence-based analysis, insights, and advice. Consulting areas include water policy and management, water utilities and infrastructure, water markets, and resilience and adaptation.  

Aither is internationally recognised for its unique service offering. It has completed projects for over 300 clients, with project experience spanning 14 countries.  

“The market for Aither’s services is growing rapidly given the scale of water and natural-resources challenges globally, which is increasing recognition of the need for specialist economics, policy and strategic advice” said Graham Ritchie, Ricardo CEO. “With the acquisition of Aither, we will be able to expand our capabilities across the entire water value chain, as well as in natural resources, climate resilience and adaption – allowing Ricardo to serve a greater range of our clients’ needs globally.” 

 The acquisition provides Ricardo the opportunity to grow high-value advisory capabilities across water and natural resources. With Aither as a market leader in water in Australia, it offers expanding capability in resilience and adaptation to help realise opportunities for growth related to climate adaptation, ESG, carbon and natural capital.  

Ricardo will integrate Aither within its Australia operations to provide scale and depth in its portfolio, while also providing an entry into the US market for water-management services. Aither already has a number of advisers in key locations, supporting its global clients and projects. Also significant is Aither’s growing digital tools in water markets, where it is already leveraging its IP and data to offer a smaller set of its clients water-valuation tools on a subscription basis – this can extend to a scalable offering thereby providing further client value.