£12m investment in fast-growing Salford tech group
Maven Capital Partners has led the £12m investment in LIMA Networks and Data Centre UK, together the LIMA Group, a managed services, hybrid cloud and data centre solutions provider.
The transaction includes an equity raise from Maven Investor Partners, a syndicate of institutional, family office and high net worth investors, alongside debt funding provided by CYBG.
Established in 1997 and located in Salford, LIMA Group is a technology services and infrastructure solutions provider.
With a team of highly-experienced technical consultants, LIMA specialises in designing and implementing intelligent IT infrastructure solutions across a wide range of sectors and industries, from SMEs to enterprise level and public sector organisations.
IT infrastructure spend continues to grow ahead of GDP, driven by increasingly complex IT requirements which require specialist providers to design, implement, monitor and manage critical enterprise infrastructure.
The adoption of cloud technology continues to gain traction with the prospect of lower, and more controllable, costs alongside improved and more secure performance. Maven’s investment will assist LIMA Group to upscale its offering in cloud and managed services and undertake selective acquisitions.
The group has a number of long-standing customer relationships, including Speedy Hire, JMW Solicitors and Gloucester Hospitals NHS Trust.
Ryan Bevington, investment director at Maven, said: “As technology advances and customer requirements evolve, IT innovation is becoming more imperative to the success of an organisation and its future growth.
“LIMA Group is enabling its clients to gain a competitive advantage by designing and implementing IT solutions which match their organisational structure and business objectives.
“The market drivers for this type of specialist and highly technical service are overwhelmingly positive and Maven are excited to support the group’s senior management team on the next phase of their growth journey.”
Lisa Thornton, chief executive and founder of LIMA Group, added: “Maven’s culture, values and ambition for LIMA Group perfectly reflects our own vision for the future so we are pleased to welcome them as partners as we seek to expand our already impressive place in the market.
“We are extremely proud of our reputation which is thanks, in no small part, to a hard-working team, our unparalleled technical expertise and the refusal to compromise on quality customer service.
“Maven’s investment solidifies our position as we now seek to broaden our portfolio and expand the business through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisition, thereby underpinning our ambition to become the ‘go to’ cloud and managed service provider.”
Principals and key advisors to the transaction were: Corporate finance – Signia Corporate Finance (Stuart Lees, Susan Lees); financial due diligence – BDO (Chris Heatlie, Sarah Cumming); commercial due diligence – Fairgrove Partners (Patrick Woodrow); legal for Maven and Newco – Gateley (Paul Jefferson, Beth Mather, Charlie Scott); legal for LIMA – TLT; IT due diligence – Intechnica; insurance due diligence – Lockton; management due diligence – Argyle Fenton.
