Security MBO brings Redstone fire sale to a close

Integrator completes disposals programme with sale of security wing to management team

Integrator Redstone's security business has undergone a management buyout (MBO) with managing director Robert Cavan heading up a £1m deal.

The management team has set up the RMS Managed ICT Security Limited vehicle to take ownership of the security VAR. Seller Redstone Managed Solutions Limited (RMSL) has already received £100,000, with another cash payment of £400,000 to be made upon completion. The deal is expected to close on 14 January.

The remaining £500,000 will come from the unit's net current assets, some of which will be retained by RMSL, and 3.5 per cent loan notes, to be redeemed between now and the end of March.

Under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations, 58 employees, mostly based at Redstone's Stoke premises, will transfer to the new owners.

For the year to 31 March 2010, the security wing banked EBITDA of £600,000 on sales of £9.2m. Top vendor partnerships include McAfee, CA, Sophos, IBM, Websense and Microsoft.

The MBO forms part of Redstone's wider strategy of divesting non-core assets to improve its profitability. The integrator's Irish operations were recently spun out, as was its PBX services business.

Its interest in the doomed Building Schools for the Future programme was also cashed in for a fraction of the original contract value. Redstone chief executive Tony Weaver claimed that, with the security MBO, the big sell-off has now come to an end.

"We are pleased to have now substantially completed our review of non-core activities and subsequent asset disposals," he explained. "Redstone is now focused on maximising the operational efficiencies available in the retained businesses and realigning the group to delivery of the new strategy."