Private equity deal values Apogee at £185m

Managed print player poised for 'significant' acquisitions a year after gobbling up Balreed

Managed print giant Apogee has put more acquisitions firmly on the agenda after taking on private equity investment.

Equistone Partners Europe, which typically invests €25m (£21m) to €125m in lower mid-market firms in the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland, has thrown its weight behind Apogee in an undisclosed transaction the duo claim values the business at £185m.

Apogee said at the start of the year that it would follow up last summer's mega-merger with rival Balreed by acquiring more outfits with a turnover between £1m and £50m. This year it has already acquired German Canon partner BAS Burosysteme and Welsh MSP kon-x Wales.

Apogee CEO Jason Collins said the Equistone investment will enable it to grab more share of the UK and European managed services market, both organically and through acquisition.

"Significant acquisitions in the UK and further overseas expansion in Europe as well as continued organic growth are top of our agenda and this will strengthen our position as the market-leading independent company for print and document technology and processes," he said.

Apogee bills itself as "the UK's largest independent Europe-wide provider of managed services for print, document and process technology". With a headcount of 450, the Maidstone-headquartered outfit counts Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, Konica Minolta and Kyocera among its key vendors.

According to its preliminary results, Apogee's UK turnover hit £89m last year, up from £68m in 2014, despite Balreed contributing to the top line for only four months.

Turnover reached £112m last year on a pro-forma basis, and Apogee now claims its revenue run rate stands at £120m.

Equistone has some pedigree in the IT channel, having invested in managed network services provider Easynet in December 2013 before selling it to Interoute 22 months later. It claims that deal generated a money multiple of 2.2.

Steve O'Hare, partner at Equistone Partners Europe, said: "Apogee has shown impressive year-on-year growth. The management team clearly have an in-depth knowledge of their marketplace and the bespoke IT-led MPS solutions Apogee provide deliver efficiency gains and cost savings for customers."