December 2, 2020
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3 min read
Veber, a London-based managed services provider (MSP) has been acquired by Acora Ltd, a UK-wide MSP with offices in both the South East, London and the Midlands. Established in 1999 Veber’s core business is providing hosted managed services to a mix of SME and corporate customers. Acora’s ambition is to be the number one UK managed service provider to the mid-market and the acquisition of Veber enables Acora to scale its private cloud offering as part of this strategy.
Evolution Capital was appointed by the shareholders to advise with planning their exit strategy from the business.
After a thorough review of the business, Veber implemented a number of pre-sale recommendations and Evolution Capital undertook a targeted marketing approach to qualify potential acquirers. The process culminated in a successful sale to Acora for an undisclosed sum in August 2020.
Tim Poultney, Veber’s CEO said, “Although I started Veber over twenty years ago, I have limited exposure to the process of preparing and selling a business. I took the company to a stage where it was profitable, stable but the business now required new ownership to maximise the potential I had created. We engaged Evolution Capital as our advisors to prepare the business for sale. Their preparation and expertise throughout the process was key to the success and enabled a smooth exit with a knowledgeable and market-leading acquirer.“
Acora, who since Spring 2020, is supported by Palatine Private Equity LLP has made a number of acquisitions since 2017 and continues to look to bring further high-quality businesses into its Group.
Nigel Cook, Evolution Capital’s MD, said, “In these challenging times, when professional buyers such as Acora and their PE investors are behaving more cautiously, it is even more critical, for shareholders seeking to achieve maximum value, that business sale propositions are developed from sound analysis and are defensible under the microscope”.
David Hemmings, Head of M&A for Acora said, “We received a clear and detailed Information Memorandum from Evolution Capital in March 2020 which allowed us to effectively assess the opportunity. Veber had good customers and a number of very capable staff. With Evolution’s help, even during Lockdown, we were able to agree HoT’s by May 2020.”
