Phil Smith & Mark Allen

Phil Smith & Mark Allen

Former COO & CFO (GCI Managed Services, now know as Nasstar)

Legacy

Senior leadership team of IT Managed Services provider, GCI, who they scaled through 23 acquisitions and exited for £200m to Mayfair Private Equity in 2018

Strategy

To harness the teams experiences at GCI (and other leading IT service companies) to build a new platform which leads from top-of-market expertise in Cloud & Remote Desktop, Network & Security, Voice & Contact Centre and Managed IT support

Targeting build of a platform that reaches the scale range of £7m-10m EBITDA within 4 years before considering the next phase of growth/development for the group amid a market lacking in mid-market consolidation targets.

Transaction type

  • Minority Investment
  • Seed Capital
  • Advisory MBI – Management Buy-In
  • Advisory Buy-Build – Accretive acquisitions originated/structured/funded
  • Advisory Refinance – Maximising liquidity and cost of funds

Delivered

  • 2021 – Raising of private capital and senior liquidity
  • 2021 – Acquisition of Remote Desktop expert, IT Farm
  • 2021 – Acquisition of innovative Teleswitch handler and carrier grade call centre solutions provider, Nexbridge
  • 2021 – Acquisition of managed IT services, hardware, connectivity and document solutions provider, CSS Group
  • 2022 – Acquisition of modern workplace practice, Everything Tech (now the lead brand of the group)
  • 2022 – Advisory refinance to a new senior structure affording increased liquidity and lower cost of fund
  • 2024 – Refinance of Senior Credit facilities with Natwest, increasing liquidity and reducing margin by 40%
  • 2024 – Acquisition of private cloud specialist, Your Office Anywhere – taking run-rate to in excess of £3.5m EBITDA with double digit organic growth

How did IC help?

  • Market research

  • Target outreach

  • Target negotiation

  • Deal Structuring

  • FDD & LDD project management

  • Fundraising – equity, loan notes and senior debt

  • Post-deal board support

  • Stakeholder management of funders

  • Succession planning

  • Rolling acquisition targeting/planning

Quote

Having scaled and exited with private equity before, we knew that building our own group without traditional private equity was our aim. Independence have a unique proposition built exactly for our purpose and have been exceptional partners in helping us deliver on that dream. We have made great progress in a short space of time and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Independence to other teams and leaders in our position

Get in touch

We are always open for business, always looking to support sector leading talent and add to our ranks operating partners, investors and team members. If you would like to know more please connect with us below

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