Equity Networks secures investment from Coniston Capital
Coniston Capital has completed an investment in Equity Networks, an IT Managed Service Provider, to fund their acquisition strategy.
Equity Networks was founded in 2011 and is led by Co-Managing Directors, Alex Hall and Marcos Reid. The business offers four key services: Managed Cloud Applications, including the implementation and maintenance of platforms like Office365, Managed Cloud Infrastructure, where data is migrated from outdated servers to the Cloud, Managed Security of data and Managed Communications, primarily internet connectivity.
The private equity investment was advised by Old Mill Corporate Finance: Scott Hill Corporate Finance Manager, Mark Neath Corporate Finance Partner, with support from the wider Corporate Finance team.
Scott Hill said "Equity Networks have been on an impressive growth journey, self-funding five acquisitions to date. After sharing with us their plans to increase the size and volume of acquisitions, along with boosting organic growth, it was clear a funding partner would be required.
"It was a pleasure to support them in this search and agree investment from Coniston Capital. Coniston are fantastically well placed to not only support the funding but to provide operational and strategic support. In addition to the expertise of Alfred Chambers at Coniston, Edward Spurrier will join the board of directors as Non-Executive Chairman. Spurrier has built a successful career in IT and Communications including in his roles as CEO of Alt Networks and Chairman of Wavenet.
"On a personal note, the Old Mill team and I have really enjoyed working with Marcos and Alex, not to mention their highly talented team. It is a significant event to take on Private Equity investment and to be chosen as the trusted advisors to support them has been a privilege.
"We are all very excited to watch them continue their growth with the support of Coniston Capital."
Marcos Reid and Alex Hall said "Scott, Mark and the team at Old Mill have been nothing short of brilliant. While we are experienced in Mergers & Acquisitions, raising institutional equity funding was brand new to us, and to have the knowledge and technical skills of Old Mill guiding us from start to finish was key to ensuring we found the right partner in Coniston Capital.
"In an ideal world you would put the day-to-day growth on hold, raise funds and return to growth… to juggle both is challenging, to say the least, but to have Old Mill sharing this workload and giving both personal and technical advice was great. It’s a process of many parts and to have them at the centre of it all project managing was of great comfort.
"We welcome this partnership with Coniston as we enter the next stage of our growth journey. Coniston’s expertise, experience and funding will enable us to accelerate our acquisition plans, to take advantage of exciting opportunities and ultimately to better serve our customers."
Old Mill led the transaction for Equity Networks, with legals carried out by Stephen Corner from Barnes Roffe.
The deal was led by Alfred Chambers and Ben Kirby at Coniston Capital, who were advised on the transaction by Browne Jacobson (Mike Jackson, Matt Dorman, Sonia Bains), Crowe (Dan Nixon, Jack Sargent, Emma Reynolds and Jack Paine), CRC (Emma Hillary) and BlairWest (Chris Marshall).
