Palatine exits IT firm Selection
MANCHESTER-based private equity investor Palatine has exited Selection Services, an IT business based in Kent in a £34.8m deal.
Palatine, which backed a buyout at Bromley-based Selection Services in December 2011, has sold the business to Castle Street Investments, an AIM-listed business, in a reverse takeover deal.
Selection has grown revenues to £35m of revenues, 65% of which are recurring and it has more than 500 active customers who typically have between 250-3,000 seats.
It has 370 staff and has grown significantly via a combination of organic growth and the strategic acquisitions of Cloud Data in 2011 and Aggregated Telecom, known as 8el, in 2013.
In the year to the end of June 2015, EBITDA was £3.3m, up from £2.9m the year before.
In order to part finance the acquisition, strengthen the balance sheet in line with its future strategy of making targeted acquisitions within the IT solutions and Cloud services sector, and for general working capital purposes, Eduinburgh-based Castle Street has raised £30m through a shares placing.
