Linney takes Outsourcery public in £34m float
MANCHESTER-based Cloud Computing firm Outsourcery, co-founded by Dragons’ Den star Piers Linney, is to float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Friday with a market value of £34.6m.
A placing with institutional and other investors has raised £13m at 110p a share.
It is the biggest company to go public this year and only the second North West flotation, following the launch of Healthcare Investment Opportunities last month.
A statement said the money would be used to fund the group to “cash flow break-even”.
Outsourcery, which has its head office at Spinningfields, provides a range of Cloud-based IT and communications services with a variety of partners to businesses. It has commercial relationships with companies such as Vodafone, Virgin Media Business and BT.
Mr Linney, co-chief executive, said: “We have invested in and developed a world-leading and enterprise-grade platform for growth which was recognised earlier this week when Outsourcery was selected as one of three finalists for Microsoft’s worldwide Server Platform Partner of the Year 2013 award.
“We aim to exploit the opportunities we are seeing at this exciting time in our development and see this fundraising as a great endorsement of our business model, technology platform and growth prospects. The funds will enable us to continue to grow rapidly, support the development of our portfolio of unique products and provide the financial resources to help us scale our business and our leading market position.”
The company was founded by Mr Linney and Simon Newton following a buy-out of mobile phone reseller Genesis Communications in 2007.
Since taking over the business they have rebuilt it to concentrate on cloud-based computing services to SMEs via subscription. Its old mobile phone sales business was sold to Nelson-based Daisy Commmunications in a £12m deal in 2011.
Its customers include publishing house Pearson Group, which publishes the Financial Times and The Economist. It provides a global messaging solution for up to 20,000 Pearson employees.
Lawyers at Squire Sanders’ office in Manchester, led by Giles Chesher, advised Outsourcery on the float. Tax advice was provided by partner Patrick Ford. The transaction services team at Grant Thornton’s Manchester office, led by Anthony Booth and Stuart Muskett, provided reporting accountant services to Outsourcery.
