Team Telecom Group in £32.8m MBO
Who?
Derby’s Team Telecom Group (TTG)
Did what?
Has completed a £32.8m management buyout from its parent company Spice.
What does this mean?
The new company will be led by current TTG CEO Mike Norfield and chairman Peter Burridge. TTG is made up of four businesses: Team Simoco and ComGroup based in Derby and in Victoria, Australia; AirRadio based in West Drayton Middlesex; and Indigo Telecom Group based in Monmouthshire, Wales. Team Simoco and ComGroup operate in the specialist professional mobile radio (PMR) communications market, supplying systems and radio terminals for use by the emergency services, utilities companies, transportation and other sectors where cellular phone networks are inappropriate. UK clients include the Ministry of Defence, Anglian Water and Western Power.
Who advised?
The deal was backed by private equity house Gresham and HSBC. HSBC’s Midlands-based Leveraged Finance team was led by Graham Young, Stuart Grantham and Chris Liddiard. The Gresham team comprised of Paul Franks, Andy Tupholme, Mitch Titley, Gary Ward and Simon Inchley. Paul Franks and Ken Lawrence have joined the TTG board. Lead advisor to Gresham and the management team was Deloitte (Darren Boocock and Darren Hodson).
Insider comment:
Norfield said: “This is a very exciting time for TTG. We have a superb management team and have invested heavily over the past three years to develop market leading businesses and products.” Paul Franks, the partner at Birmingham-based Gresham who led the deal said: “There is considerable growth potential in this area of telecommunications, both in the UK and overseas, and we look forward to working with TTG as they build the business over the coming years.”
Spice, the Yorkshire former parent company of TTG, first revealed it was contemplating a sale last week when it advised the Stock Exchange that talks were underway. However, at the time it said “there can be no certainty” of a deal going through.
