Exclusive Networks not for sale as it boosts M&A war chest

VAD has €50m to lavish on acquisitions as new backer ICG comes on board

Exclusive Networks claims it has the financial clout to remain on the giving rather than the receiving end of industry consolidation for at least another two years after securing €60m (£50.2m) in fresh funding.

Although the new package sees no change in the security VAD's shareholder structure, its four French banking backers have been replaced with British fund ICG.

The move, which was first announced in February but has only now been finalised, will boost its acquisition war chest to €50m.

Fellow private equity-backed, pan-European security VAD Computerlinks agreed to sell up to Arrow in August, leaving Exclusive as the region's largest remaining independent player.

France-based Exclusive is gunning for €1bn turnover by 2017 and chief executive Olivier Breittmayer said the new funding would enable it to begin delivering on the plan.

"We are not for sale," he told CRN. "We only have one focus, and that is to do our plan and to do the acquisitions and to develop the group. This announcement is very important because we now have enough funds to continue to develop."

Exclusive remains majority-owned by Omnis Capital, with Rothschild and Exclusive management holding the remaining shares. A portion of the new funding package is being used to reimburse previous banking backers CIC Finance, BNP Paribas, Banque Populaire and Société Générale.

Holding debt with one rather than four backers will give Exclusive more flexibility over acquisitions, Breittmayer (pictured) added.

Having made a string of acquisitions across western Europe in recent years, including VADition and Arc in the UK, Exclusive currently operates in 14 countries.

The £50m will be used to make several more acquisitions, most likely in eastern Europe or further afield in the Middle East or Africa, Breittmayer hinted, adding that letters of intent have already been signed with multiple targets.

"In the next two years we will not be bought by someone else," Breittmayer pledged. "After that, nobody knows."