Livingbridge acquires IT service North from Aliter Capital

Harriet Matthews
30 July 2021

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Livingbridge has acquired UK-based IT service business North from Aliter Capital, which formed the business via a buy-and-build strategy that began with its acquisition of Boston Networks in 2018.

The GP simultaneously announced North's follow-on acquisition of market peer Data Techniques, with the aim of combining the businesses' complementary service portfolios on a UK-wide level. Data Techniques has 90 employees and is headquartered in Southampton, with additional offices in Camberley, and Basingstoke.

Livingbridge intends to support the company in the consolidation of the fragmented IT service market, according to the same statement.

Livingbridge is investing in North via Livingbridge 7, which reached the GBP 1.2bn mark for its fundraise in May 2021, as reported.

Livingbridge 7 expects to make around 20-22 platform investments in total. The fund will follow the investment strategy of its GBP 660m predecessor vehicle but it can deploy larger equity tickets of up to GBP 150m for businesses with enterprise values of up to GBP 300m.

The deal is the fourth deal announced by Livingbridge within one month; the GP acquired wheelchair and mobility service provider AJM Healthcare from WestBridge earlier in July 2021, prior to which it acquired secondhand book retailer World of Books from Bridges Fund Management. At the end of June 2021, Livingbridge announced that it had acquired a majority stake in data security and compliance software developer Semafone.

Aliter Capital acquired Glasgow-headquartered IT service Boston Networks in January 2018, deploying equity via its GBP 92m debut fund, Aliter Capital I. The fund makes equity investments of up to GBP 20m, targeting UK-based support services businesses with enterprise values of GBP 10-50m.

Boston Networks acquired PEL Services in April 2018, followed by 2020 Vision Systems in December 2018, and Wales-headquartered Pinacl Holdings in April 2019. At the time of its acquisition of Pinacl, the company posted revenues of almost GBP 50m and had more than 300 staff, according to a contemporary statement.

Company
North was formed via the merger of Aliter Capital portfolio company Boston Networks with PEL Services, 2020 Vision Systems, Pinacl Solutions and Pinacl GDA. North is headquartered in Glasgow and has additional operations in Wales, as well as Middlesex, North Shields and Birmingham.

The company provides IT services for businesses, specialising in connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT). Its clients include Cisco and Nokia, as well as public sector and local authority clients. The company has worked on a pilot programme with Nokia for the use of 5G technology in an operational automotive environment, according to a statement.

According to its latest publicly available financial statements, North posted revenues of GBP 40.6m in the financial year to April 2020, versus GBP 17.2m in the previous year. The firm has around 270 staff.

People
North – Glen Williams (CEO).
Livingbridge – Matthew Caffrey (partner).
Data Techniques – Nick Crosby (managing director).
Aliter Capital – Greig Brown (founding partner).