Alantra advises Inflexion on its strategic partnership with Digital Wholesale Solutions
SECTORTechnology
ServiceM&A
Value £1 billion
Alantra, the independent global mid-market investment banking firm, is advising Inflexion on its minority investment in Digital Wholesale Solutions (“DWS”), an independent IT, communications and cloud wholesale platform, which is currently part of Daisy Group. As part of the transaction, DWS will be demerged from Daisy Group with the majority of the shareholders of Daisy Group reinvesting directly into DWS. The transaction values DWS at an enterprise valuation of £1 billion.
DWS is a high-growth software platform business providing IT, communications and cloud products and services on a wholesale basis to over 6,000 UK partners, from vendors including Vodafone, O2, BT/EE, Microsoft, and Virgin Media Business. Its services are targeted at resellers serving small and medium sized enterprises (“SMEs”) in the 10-250 employee range.
DWS has delivered strong organic growth and executed a series of strategic acquisitions, including the acquisition of Giacom (sold to DWS in November 2020) and is well-placed to capitalise on market disruptions including 5G, fibre to the premises, and cloud services, largely driven by the continued encouragement for remote working, driving SMEs to increasingly invest in digital technology.
The communications and networking sector’s buoyant M&A activity is evidenced by the series of transactions Alantra has recently advised on including the sale of Livingbridge-backed Giacom to DWS, Graphite Capital’s £90m acquisition of Babble, Bowmark Capital’s investment in Focus Group and MML Capital on its acquisition of Arrow.
The Alantra team comprised James Chapman-Andrews, Andy Currie, Oliver Norman, Luke Parvin Jamie Dickson, and Milan Vashi.
James Chapman-Andrews, Partner and UK Head of Technology at Alantra, commented: “As part of the Daisy Group, DWS has become a leading provider for communications, IT and cloud services in the channel. Separating the business from the wider Daisy Group with the support of Inflexion will enable DWS to capitalise on the vast and growing opportunity in the sector and to further accelerate its independent growth strategy. It has been a great pleasure working with Inflexion and the DWS management team and shareholders to achieve this exciting milestone for all stakeholders.”
Edward Lynch, Investment Director at Inflexion, added: “Appointing Alantra to advise us on this transaction was a straightforward choice given their knowledge of the sector and specific knowledge of all key parties involved following the Giacom deal. This, coupled with their excellent execution capability, gave us great confidence they could support us in delivering the transaction within a six week timeframe.”
The investment is subject to regulatory approval.
