Corporate finance team help secure £21m deal
A corporate finance team from the South West has advised the shareholders of Silver Telecom on the sale of the business for £21m.
Founded in 1997, Silvertel is a Newport based designer and manufacturer of differentiated, high performance Power-over-Ethernet modules and complementary products for global industrial electronic markets.
Silvertel sells its products in over 70 countries, will be part of the magnetics and controls division of discoverIE while retaining its current brand identity.
Silvertel delivered an exceptional performance in the year to 28 January 2023, with revenues of £13.5m, a pre-tax profit of £4.4m and gross assets of £4.6m.
Performance in the current year is expected to be closer to the 2022 financial year, where the business reported revenues of £8.4m and pre-tax profit of £2.2m.
The company was acquired for initial cash consideration of £21m on a debt-free, cash-free basis. In addition, an earn-out of up to £23m will be payable subject to Silvertel’s performance over the next four years.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to approval under the UK National Security and Investment Act, which is expected to be received later this quarter.
Steve Edwards, founder and chief executive of Silvertel, said: “We are delighted to become part of the discoverIE group. From the moment we met Nick and the team, it was clear that discoverIE is an organisation that shares our values and will be a supportive owner for Silvertel.
“It has been fantastic working with Momentum on this transaction. We couldn’t be happier with the support we received from them – their clear and commercial advice has enabled us to get this deal over the line and meet our objectives as shareholders, whilst providing significant opportunity to benefit from its continued growth. We would like to thank Rob, Matt and James for their efforts and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to other business owners looking at their strategic options.”
Matt Stafford, director at Momentum, added: “Silvertel is a fantastic business that we have known for a number of years, and as a result we are delighted to have helped Steve, Sean, and the wider team on this transaction. We believe that discoverIE is the right home for Silvertel and this transaction is great news for the business and its staff. Steve and the team have built a true world leader in its niche market and discoverIE’s decentralised model will allow Silvertel to maintain its distinct identity and agile offering, whilst providing the support of a FTSE 250-listed organisation.”
