Palatine's WHP buys Paragon Telecoms

Palatine acquired WHP from Key Capital Partners for £38m in May. The GP parted with £16m in equity for a majority stake in the business. RBS provided a £16m debt facility to finance the transaction. Key Capital reaped a 4x multiple on the sale.

Palatine sourced the bolt-on candidate and injected additional equity to finance the acquisition of Paragon, although the buyout house declined to comment on the actual amount. Palatine expects the bolt-on will enhance WHP's mobile network services and enable it to cater to a wider customer base.

Company
Established in 2013, Paragon specialises in telecoms, engineering and construction projects. It is based in St Helens and employs 27 staff.

Headquartered in Warrington, WHP provides deployment, upgrade and maintenance services for mobile network masts, antennae and base stations. Its clients include H3g, EE and Vodafone. The company was founded in 1988 and employs 300 staff. It generates revenues of around £40m.

People
Palatine partner Andy Lees and investment manager James Winterbottom worked on the original WHP deal for the GP. Rob Potter is the managing director of WHP. Terry Flanagan chairs Paragon Telecoms.

Advisers
Company (WHP) – Convex Capital, Chris Froggatt (Corporate finance); Pinsent Masons (Legal).
Company (Paragon) – Ballard Evans (Corporate finance); Slater Heelis (Legal).

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Expansion
• Support services
• Palatine Private Equity
• Acquisition finance