Aspire strikes £200m deal to accelerate expansion

The fund will help the MSP double down on organic growth and M&A strategy

MSP Aspire Technology Solutions has entered into a £200m transaction with lead investor LDC, alongside new minority co-backer Federated Hermes, as it looks to boost its expansion and acquisition strategy.

This financing will aim to help the organisation reach its £100m revenue target by 2030.

For FY26, it forecasts top line to stand at £71.2m and EBITDA at £13.5m.

Since the LDC’s first investment in 2022, the partner has seen earnings leap 158 per cent.

In the last financial year, the company’s turnover surged 28 per cent to £50.9m (FY24: £39.6m).

Its headcount also soared 55 per cent over the last two years, as Aspire now hires more than 300 employees in the UK, spread across its offices in Gateshead, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Stockton.

The business is now estimated at £192m, compared with £85m in 2022, reportedly driven by investment in core infrastructure, including private cloud, network enhancement and AI-powered tooling.

The private equity’s former investment also helped the organisation complete two deals across the UK last year, with the buyouts of Cloud Cover IT in Glasgow and Leeds-based CloudCoCo.

“LDC has supported our ambition since 2022 and their continued partnership as a lead investor, now alongside Federated Hermes, gives us the platform to move forward with confidence,” said Chris Fraser, CEO and founder of Aspire.

“We will continue to scale through sustained organic growth and customer focus.

“This investment enables us to further strengthen our capability and deliver across the UK.

“We see significant opportunity ahead and we are committed to growing in a way that brings customers even greater value, service and security.”

The transaction was led by LDC’s Gareth Marshall, partner and head of North East and Scotland, as well as investment manager Emma Borrie.

Marshall added: “Since our initial investment, Aspire has more than doubled in size while successfully integrating two complementary acquisitions and maintaining the customer service standards that set them apart in the market.

“As lead investor, we’re excited to continue to support [Fraser] and his team through this next phase.”

As part of the transaction, Tim Hipperson will step down as non-executive chair of the company.

David Murray will join Aspire in this role, reportedly bringing more than 30 years of experience in supporting technology business evolution.

LDC was advised by Clearwater, Womble Bond Dickinson and KPMG.

Management was supported by Muckle and BDO.

Federated Hermes was represented by Morgan Lewis and Alvarez & Marsal.

Debt financing for the transaction was provided by Five Arrows.