Grant Thornton advises communications deal
Grant Thornton's Midlands corporate finance team has advised the shareholders of Scalable Communications on its sale to communications service provider Alternative Networks. The deal was made through an initial payment of £7.5m.
An additional £2.5m will be payable on achieving Scalable's growth targets to 31 December 2011.
Scalable is a computer network integrator which specialises in delivering converged solutions around IP network, IP security and IP telephony. The company has annual sales of £12.5m in 2009 and it employs 53 people at its offices in Buckinghamshire and London.
The acquisition will allow London-based Alternative Networks to grow its managed data networking services into its customer base as well as the wider market.
James Murray, chief executive of Alternative, said: “It has always been our strategy to build an integrated platform of managed data services. We have been following Scalable for some time and recognised the value it can deliver to our business.”
Grant Thornton was retained by the founding shareholders of Scalable, Simon Brown and Denny Meijer, to advise them on their options following an initial approach by Alternative.
Sam Hunter, associate director at Grant Thornton, said: "Despite continuing to grow strongly through the recession, the shareholders of Scalable were naturally cautious about committing their time to a transaction process that might not ultimately meet their expectations.
"We were therefore asked to advise on the value of the business, the potential structure of a transaction and the likelihood of completing a deal in the current market. By recognising the strategic fit between the businesses we were able to assist in presenting the potential benefits of the acquisition to Alternative and then led negotiations on behalf of the Scalable shareholders, managing the transaction process through due diligence and legal contract."
Grant Thornton also provided tax advice to the Scalable shareholders while legal advice was provided by Michael Stace, of the Oxford office of Morgan Cole.
