28 DEALMAKERS
DAISY CHAIN KEEPS ON GROWING
He has been called one of Britain’s most successful telecoms entrepreneurs and Matthew Riley’s latest deal once again reinforces that description.
It has seen Daisy Group, which he founded and chairs, purchase rival XLN Telecom in a reported £210m deal.
XLN provides more than 100,000 small businesses with services including broadband, phones and card payments.
The deal means Nelson headquartered Daisy now boasts more than 200,000 customers with combined revenues of more than £200m. Sector watchers also say it makes Daisy second only to BT Group in the UK’s SME telecoms market.
Riley has continually looked to grow Daisy through a string of buy and build acquisitions, including the £165m takeover of Alternative Networks in 2016.
Explaining the thinking behind the latest XLN deal, he says: “With so much investment across the UK to improve the fibre infrastructure, Daisy is now well-positioned to help unlock the enhanced speed, reliability and security that customers want in their offices and shops up and down the country.
“There is also a vast opportunity in the creation of jobs as we need more staff to help deliver that service.”
The analogue network switch off is fast approaching, meaning UK businesses are being pushed to explore digital services.
We have been highly successful in our support of small businesses since our launch in 2002
Daisy is at the forefront in helping customers make the transition and the group says it will be employing more sales and service teams to continue delivering this support. According to reports the deal could create as many as 200 jobs.
Dave McGinn, Daisy Communications chief executive, says: “Daisy’s strategy has always been to acquire successful businesses and we’re delighted with the recent acquisition of XLN.
“We’re excited to work closely with the XLN team, to capitalise on our shared portfolio and to bring the best propositions and pricing to all of our customers. Ultimately, we want to keep enabling customers, collaboratively, to win in their marketplace.”
Matthew Riley
Christian Nellemann, founder and executive chairman of XLN, which has offices in London and Sheffield, says: “We have been highly successful in our support of small businesses since our launch in 2002. We have continually innovated in both products and services which has enabled the company to continue to grow.
“Therefore, we felt the time was right to hand the reins over to Daisy, who have a great track record of investing and enhancing the businesses they acquire; the business and our customers are in safe hands.”
In another major move last year, Daisy demerged its cloud business into a separate company with a £1bn valuation and an eye to flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
Riley agreed the sale of a stake in Digital Wholesale Solutions (DWS) to private equity fund Inflexion. It was also announced he would continue in his role as chairman.
The business said the move had secured 200-plus jobs at the company’s Lancashire HQ as well as opening the door to future growth and development.
Daisy was at one stage floated and listed on the London Stock Exchange, before being taken private again in 2014. The business was founded in 2001 by Riley, who left school aged 16.
In 2019 US asset management firm Ares invested more than £1bn in the group to allow Riley to buy out a minority investor.
Described at the time as one of the largest-ever private credit financing transactions in Europe, the investment was also being used to refinance the company’s existing credit facilities, and to support future growth plans.
SOLVING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
forbessolicitors.co.uk
0333 207 1130 Offices in Lancashire, Manchester and Leeds.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
