IT infrastructure services business Phoenix IT has been snapped up by acquisition- hungry Daisy Group in a deal worth circa £135m, valuing Phoenix shares at 160p each. The deal represents the biggest convergence of telecoms and IT service provision to date in the UK, leaving Daisy well placed for an increasingly off premise and hybrid cloud world, according to Philip Carse, Analyst at Megabuyte.com.
He said "The agreement will boost Daisy's EBITDA by 42% before synergies and create a £200m mid-market telecoms and IT powerhouse and boost Daisy's Partner division, alongside its existing SME business, in an organisation with total combined revenues of approximately £620m."
Daisy says the acquisition will create the first 'truly converged IT and UC provider in the UK mid-market'.
Commenting on the diversification of Daisy's product portfolio, its founder and Executive Chairman Matt Riley stated: "Phoenix's strengths in IT services and solutions - particularly its managed services and rapidly expanding cloud services - strengthens Daisy's existing portfolio of products and services that represent the converging world of traditional telecoms and IT."
Daisy CEO Neil Muller added: "Phoenix enhances our capability across the markets we operate in. It allows us to add to our capability and provide end-to-end solutions directly to our mid-market customers.
"Via our Partner Services business, we believe it will enable us to deliver further value to our partners who serve the enterprise market."
Peter Bertram, Non-Executive Chairman of Phoenix, commented: "Both Daisy and our own team share the same positive view of Phoenix's long-term growth potential. The combined group will provide a compelling offering to our joint customers into the future."