Quantix completes MBO

VAR joins current management buy out trend in £10m private equity deal

Quantixhas become the latest VAR to turn to private equity to bolster its growth plans as it completed its management buy-out (MBO) from parent Lynx plc.

The £10m deal is backed by £4.8m in equity from ISIS Equity Partners and Invex Capital Partners and Quantix is already on the hunt for acquisitions.

Paul Morris, who led the transaction for ISIS, said Oracle would continue to form the core of Quantix’s offering as the business expands.

“Quantix has grown in the Oracle managed services market without huge investment and we can now make that investment in people, systems and acquisitions to accelerate that growth,” he said.

“Its core business is Oracle so we would consider other Oracle managed services firms as bolt-on acquisitions. It also has a Microsoft managed services business and a growing security business, so there are a lot of interesting avenues we could go down.”

Quantix will continue to be fronted by managing director Dick Salmon and sales director Simon Goodenough, although David Amos, who worked with ISIS at software firm Blue 8, will now step in as financial director to help with acquisitions.

Salmon said in a statement: “The timing of the deal is excellent. In the last three years Quantix has grown sales and profits impressively - by over 300 per cent and 700 per cent respectively - but the financial investment and support now available to us will accelerate this growth even further.”

Nottingham-based Quantix, which has 31 staff, will use some of the cash to relocate to new offices in May. It also plans to recruit ten new members of staff in the next six months.

The move represents ISIS’s third acquisition in the UK IT channel in the last 12 months. The private equity house has also recently snapped up IBM and Sage reseller Panacea (CRN, 22 May) and software firm Bolden James.

“IT is an interesting space for private equity houses,” said Morris. “The market is not hugely consolidated so there are a lot of opportunities for us to pick up niche businesses and hopefully grow them.”

Morris added that ISIS plans to sell Quantix within three to five years, probably to a larger trade or private equity firm.