July 15, 2020
|
3 min read
Babble Cloud Ltd. recently announced that it had acquired Lake Technologies Ltd; the second acquisition that Babble has made so far in 2020. Overall, it is the fourth deal build by the firm to help spur further growth and transformation since it received private equity backing in 2017 from LDC. Lake Technologies has provided business telephony and network services to its customers for over 26 years, who will now be able to take advantage of Babble’s ability to offer agile and efficient cloud-based solutions to organisations, allowing them to adapt to the changing working environments.
Choosing the Right Time
Evolution Capital conducted several face-to-face meetings with the owners of Lake Technologies who then decided that the right time had arrived to sell their business. Evolution Capital provided guidelines to the Lake management team and shareholders with the production of the relevant business information for them to conduct an independent process to sell the business.
Neil Needham, out-going Commercial Director of Lake Technologies, said “We have had an on-going relationship with Evolution Capital for some time and informed them of our intention to sell the company and asked them to find us some suitable buyers for the business. They guided us with the development of an MOI and committed to finding us a suitable buyer. Evolution Capital managed our confidentiality, and their knowledge of the marketplace and having mature relationships with buyers was key to a speedy and successful sale of our business. Lake’s shareholders entrusted them to find a buyer that matched strict criteria. The first potential acquirer Evolution Capital introduced us to had detailed and exacting requirements, which we matched completely, and the sales process started and ultimately completed very smoothly. Our main concern was the effect on the process of the COVID-19 lock-down as my previous experience of business disposal required a great deal of personal contact with the buyers. We had only met Babble, the eventual acquirers, on two occasions before lock-down but such was the preparation, detail and efficiency of all parties that any ‘rocks in the road’ were dealt with quickly.”
Success Despite an Uncertain Market
Matt Parker, Babble’s CEO said, “This is another step on Babble’s rapidly accelerating ride towards £100m as we seek further acquisitions in partnership with LDC. I am delighted to have acquired another high-quality business in Lake Technologies. Both businesses have a focus on improving productivity and increasing customer engagement and organisational resilience whilst reducing costs, to deliver a rapid return on investment for clients.”
Read more about the acquisition
