We advised Shard Credit Partners on the provision of an £8.75m facility to fund the acquisition of The Technology Group (TTG) by Gradwell Communications, an investee company of Chiltern Capital.
Shard Credit Partners is an innovative provider of alternative financing solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating throughout the UK regions. In the past two years, Shard Credit Partners has invested more than £117m in supporting regional management buy-out transactions and M&A buy-and-build acquisition strategies, as well as growth capital expenditure financing. This transaction with Chiltern Capital represents the first transaction by Shard Credit Partners for a private equity-owned business.
Gradwell Communications is a UK provider of hosted telephony, connectivity, and cloud-based software, serving a diverse customer base of over 7,800 SME customers. The services allow SMEs to transition smoothly and efficiently to a flexible, scalable remote working setup with cloud-based functionality. The acquisition of Leeds-based TTG, which provides over 890 SMEs with comprehensive end-to-end cloud-based communications (including voice over IP, video, chat and collaboration technologies), will provide excellent opportunities to cross-sell and will place Gradwell Communications in a strong position to broaden their customer base and capitalise on the rapidly growing UK cloud communications market.
Andrew Madden, banking and finance partner, led the deal, supported by corporate partner Andrew Cowan, and banking and finance solicitor, Christian Wiltshire.
Andrew Madden commented: “We are really excited to advise them on another deal. Shard Credit Partners is an important funder in the UK lower-mid market, which is perfectly aligned with our mid-market focus and strength across the regions. The acquisition of TTG by Gradwell Communications will help them strengthen their position in the market and broaden their audience.”
Alastair Brown, CEO of Shard Credit Partners, added: “We are delighted to have been able to provide financial support to Chiltern Capital and Simon Curry and his senior management team at Gradwell for this transformational acquisition of TTG. The combination of these two businesses is based on solid commercial rationale and will enable the creation of a clear market leader in the rapidly growing hosted telecommunications market for UK SMEs nationwide.”