NorthEdge invests in Jigsaw24

Carmen Reichman
17 April 2013

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

NorthEdge Capital has invested growth capital in UK-based creative IT solutions provider Jigsaw24 for a majority stake in the business.

NorthEdge's investment in Jigsaw24 will support organic growth plans of the business and fund acquisitions. It will also back the company's expansion in its newly entered markets, including the commercial and public sectors, and finance the development of its application and managed services offerings focused around the Apple ecosystem.

Jigsaw24 was the second investment from the GP's maiden fund NorthEdge Capital Fund I, which closed on £225m in April 2013. The fund's first investment was in Stockport-based engineering firm FPE Global in February 2013. NorthEdge typically invests £5-35m in businesses with enterprise values of £20-75m in the north of England.

The deal was arranged by Deloitte's Manchester office, which provided corporate finance advice to NorthEdge, Cooper Parry, which worked for the vendor, and Transcend Corporate, which advised the management on the transaction.

Debt
Lloyds provided debt facilities for the deal.

Company
Jigsaw24 is a creative IT and Apple solutions provider based in Nottingham, with a service operation based at MediaCityUK in Salford. The business was founded in 1992 and has a customer base in the UK's creative and education markets as well as the commercial and public sectors.

Jigsaw24 employs 143 people and has a turnover of £60m. The business plans to open a facility in London later this year.

People
The deal was led by NorthEdge partner Ray Stenton. NorthEdge's managing partner Grant Berry and investment manager Tom Rowley have joined the Jigsaw24 board as non-executive directors, while Ashvin Pathak, an experienced IT investor, has been appointed as non-executive chairman.

Advisers
Equity – Deloitte, Oliver Tebbutt, Iain Marlow (Corporate finance); Deloitte (Commercial due diligence); PwC (Financial due diligence); Gateley (Legal).
Vendor – Cooper Parry (Corporate finance); Browne Jacobson (Legal).
Management – Transcend Corporate (Corporate finance); Deloitte (Commercial due diligence); PwC (Financial due diligence); Heatons (Legal).