Technology group adds £75m ‘firepower’ for acquisitive strategy
Wavenet has refinanced to create a £75m war chest to provide added “firepower” for its buy-and-build strategy.
The Birmingham technology group specialises in voice, data and cloud services, and since a management buyout in August 2016 has doubled the size of the business.
The growth has been driven by three acquisitions – of Swains and Talk Internet in 2017 and APR Telecoms this April.
Paul Franks, managing partner of Beech Tree Private Equity
“We want to continue the buy and build strategy we set out on and this new facility provided by Ares and RBS, provides the capital to continue the build-up of this technology-led company.”
Wavenet provides unified communications to 5,000 business customers. It employs 100 people across its Solihull headquarters and Warrington and Norfolk offices.
Bill Dawson, who has been chief executive for 10 years, expects to complete more acquisitions soon now that Wavenet has “the firepower”.
He said: “We set out a couple of years ago to build a standout business in the sector with leading cloud-based unified communications solutions.
“Our progress to date has been substantial and we are pleased with the pace of growth which has enabled us to provide better opportunities to our clients and our staff.”
Wavenet and Beech Tree Private Equity were advised by debt specialists Clearwater International, whose team included Joe Dyke, Hertej Rattan and Kieran Virr.
