Advania and Content+Cloud bosses on rationale behind acquisition and plans to grow UK business
Mikael Noaksson and Peter Sweetbaum tell CRN that the UK business will be run through a decentralised model
The Content+Cloud business will operate through a "decentralised" model following its acquisition by Nordic managed services giant Advania, its bosses have told CRN.
London-based Microsoft partner Content+Cloud was acquired by Advania last week for an undisclosed sum.
The deal creates a £800m revenue northern European MSP powerhouse with 3,500 staff across the UK, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Speaking to CRN, Advania CEO Mikael Noaksson and Content+Cloud CEO Peter Sweetbaum said the UK business will operate via a "decentralised" model, which will mean decision making will continue to be made locally in the UK.
"We want this entrepreneurship to stay, and we really emphasise the need for a really skilled management team that can be part of the C-Level within the group and work within the strategy of the group overall," said Noaksson.
"I don't see the centralisation as something that is necessary. It will be very much up to Peter and the team to run the business as they see fit to achieve the best outcome. The best thing to do would be to keep the culture because that's what we love about the business."
Sweetbaum said that Content+Cloud began looking for new ownership this year as its five-year investment cycle with ECI Partners began to draw to a natural end.
The CEO said that he weighed several options for a change of ownership, including being acquired by another private equity firm and even by larger enterprises and systems integrators.
"Fortunately we've reached a relatively material scale in the UK which gave us some great options, but none better than Advania for us as a team," he said.
"We've got a strong vision and direction for the company and we were really excited to continue to perpetuate that," he added.
"It would've been a shame to see us incorporated into a big systems integrator or into a company where we would've lost the momentum and intensity of what we are building."
Advania has meanwhile expanded its revenues by more than five-fold between 2016 and 2021 through organic growth as well as a string of acquisitions across the Nordic market.
In an interview with our sister publication Channel Partner Insight in 2019, Noaksson said that the firm had no intentions of expanding outside of its home region, claiming that the firm's goal was to become "a true pan-Nordic player".
But the Iceland-born company's ambitions changed after Goldman Sachs acquired a majority stake in the business earlier this year.
Noaksson said that the Goldman Sachs deal gave it both the financial clout and the connections to begin looking at M&A further afield.
"If you look back a few years ago and the ownership we had then, we didn't have the ability, not when it comes to the financials but also the skill set or the networking that you need to do bigger M&A abroad," he said.
The CEOs said that more M&A could follow once the dust has settled on the Content+Cloud acquisition.
"We have this strong ownership behind us that can do bolt-on acquisitions in existing countries but also look at new countries as well," he said.
"We are able to be a little more aggressive now. But it is a pragmatic approach; the important thing is not to acquire companies for the scale, but for the people, the skills and the services that can attract more talent to grow organically."
Sweetbaum added that acquisitions will continue to play an "active part" in Content+Cloud's growth strategy in the UK.
The company made one acquisition this year in the shape of UK-based Microsoft partner Sipcom. The deal added collaboration and communication solutions to the business as well as a new footprint in the US market.
The Content+Cloud boss said that the UK business will be able to make use of Advania's extensive VAR and LSP business in the Nordics, while it will be able to offer its own Microsoft expertise to Nordic customers.
"I think if there were two words we would both circle as being at the heart of what we both do , they would be customer centricityThe Scandinavian and Nordic market is a mature, progressive market for us to connect with which makes total sense for us," he added.