Former Lynx boss Edgeley grabs slice of TIG

Paul Edgeley to spearhead The Internet Group's mid-market acquisition strategy after assuming executive role

Former Lynx boss Paul Edgeley has bought a minority stake in The Internet Group (TIG), 18 months after joining the managed service provider in a non-executive post.

In his new role as executive director, Edgeley has been given the task of helping TIG expand further into the mid-market through acquisition.

Edgeley has also acquired a minority shareholding in the London-based Dell, Microsoft and VMware partner. Managing director Adam Maurice briefly owned the firm outright after buying the 50 per cent stake owned by recently departed sales director Mitchell Feldman.

Talking to ChannelWeb, Maurice (pictured below) said TIG had spent the past six months refocusing its business on mid-market firms with 100 to 350 employees.

A new four-strong team focusing on storage and enterprise architecture has been launched to support its push upstream.

"Our typical size of customer was 15 to100 employees but we are now focusing our energy on the mid-market," Maurice said. "That is where we need to be and where Paul is adding immense value."

Edgeley was managing director of Lynx before the mid-market reseller was acquired by BT in 2007. He then briefly oversaw BT's mid-market acquisition strategy.

TIG has made six acquisitions in the past five years and in 2009 set up a web site, buymyit.biz, aimed at owners of small MSPs looking to sell up. Maurice said TIG had recently renewed its facility with NatWest and that the bank is keen for the firm to make some bigger acquisitions.

"We are looking for firms that are making or have made the transition into the mid-market," he said.

TIG has also enlisted a new sales manager in the form of Stuart Grist, who previously held the same position at competitor Doherty Associates. He starts at the end of April. At the same time, finance manager Shukhrat Ravshanov has been promoted from finance manager to finance director.