Palatine completes Selection Services buyout

Amy King
19 December 2011

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Palatine Private Equity (formerly Zeus Private Equity) has acquired a majority stake in Selection Services, which provides managed IT services to the SME market, in an MBO thought to be worth between ТЃ5m-15m.

The transaction included the acquisition of a hosting and disaster recovery services business Cloud Data.

The capital injection represents Palatine's ninth investment from its £100m maiden fund since its closing in 2007.

Investment supports Selection's expansion in the IT services sector and will fund the company's organic and acquisitive growth. The first acquisition is expected in the next few months.

Debt
Beechbrook Capital Partners provided debt and Barclays Bank provided working capital facilities to support the transaction.

Company
Bromley-based Selection Services provides managed IT services to the SME market. The combination of Selection and Cloud Data creates a business with 360 employees and revenues of £28m. Following the acquisition, Selection will offer a range of capabilities in hosting and cloud computing services alongside the services it already offers, expanding its client base and market presence.

People
Tony Dickin is a partner at Palatine Private Equity and worked on the deal alongside colleagues Jonny Allatt and James Winterbottom; Dickin and Allatt have been appointed to the board. Nick Fenn, Sandeep Argwaal and Tim Johnstone worked on the deal for Beechbrook Capital Partners.

Advisers
Equity - Grant Thornton, Duncan Lamb and Paul Short (Corporate finance), Tenon Corporate Finance, Peter Vendervelde and James Killing (Financial due diligence), CIL, Sebastian Chambers and Tom Fletcher (Commercial due diligence), Gateley, Rebecca Grisewood, Kate Richards and Bernard McIlroy (Legal).
Management - BDO, Paul Russell (Corporate finance), Lewis Silkin, Richard Miskella (Legal), Dutton Gregory, Jonathan Brown (Legal).
Vendor - Ernst Young, Bob Davies (Corporate finance), Addleshaw Goddard, Mike Hinchcliffe and Geoff Yates (Legal).
Debt - Burges Salmon, Richard Leeming and Mark Sheppard (Legal).