Daisy seals first deal since buyout

TELECOMS company Daisy Group has announced its first acquisition since the £494m takeover of the company by its founder and chairman Matthew Riley.

The East Lancashire firm has bought Damovo UK, a provider of voice-critical unified communications to the public and private sectors, and with it 250 business customers, including a number of high profile clients in aviation transport and government.

A strategic partner of Cisco, Mitel and Microsoft, its portfolio includes unified communications and collaboration, enterprise networks, contact centres, as well as cloud services and global managed services.

Damovo UK notched a turnover of £27.5m until January 31 2014, down 10% on the previous year.

With growth in its enterprise base highlighted as a key area of focus, the Daisy leadership team believes it is perfectly positioned to develop the Horsham-based operation through its specialist managed services proposition.

Riley said: “This is the first acquisition we have undertaken since Daisy’s privatisation and enhances our capability in the enterprise space.
 
“With strong vendor relationships and an expert team in place, the business is well positioned for growth under our ownership.”

Daisy Group was advised by Addleshaw Goddard’s Manchester corporate team and EY provided financial and pensions due diligence to support the transaction.

Meanwhile, Lloyds Bank’s Acquisition and Finance and Mid-market team led the syndicated £235m debt package which supported the take-private of Daisy.

Daisy provides its 59,000 customers with a range of business communication services, including broadband, phone line, mobile, VoIP, cloud and hosting. The company employs 1,500 staff across its 17 offices in the UK and recorded revenues of £352.7m for the financial year ending March 31 2014.

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