Daisy founder keen on £215m deal for cloud business
A telecoms entrepreneur who turned Daisy Group into one of the industry’s most successful private companies is closing in on a £215m deal to buy a cloud communications services business based in Dorset.
According to reports Matthew Riley, Daisy’s chairman, has pulled together a £215m deal to acquire 4Com.
The company is a provider of cloud communications services to more than 17,000 corporate customers.
According to reports the deal is expected to be signed within days and will hand 4Com founder Daron Hutt a windfall worth more than £100m.
Lancashire firm Daisy is understood to have targeted 4Com because of its cloud communication product, HiHi.
The acquisition of 4Com will enable Daisy to expand the range of products it provides to the SME market as it continues to grow its customer base.
Based in Bournemouth, 4Com has itself grown through a series of acquisitions since it was founded in 1999.
Revenues from the deal are expected to be around £400m a year.
Riley, who is based in Lancashire, has bought a number of rivals in recent years, including paying £210m for XLN Telecom in 2022.
Its growth has made Daisy second only to BT Group in the UK’s SME telecoms market.
At one stage listed on the public market in London, Daisy was taken private again in 2014 with the backing of Toscafund Asset Management.
In its last published accounts, the highly leveraged Daisy reported that its net senior debt now stands at £461.9m, an increase from £416.6m, mainly due to increased borrowings and costs of acquisitions, lease renewals and net cash outflow for the year.
Houlihan Lokey is understood to be advising on the deal to acquire 4Com.
