Bright future for Sabio following third acquisition

Contact centre specialist continues spending following private equity investment

Sabio has completed its third acquisition since taking on private equity capital, snapping up analytics firm Bright UK.

Based in Twickenham, Bright is a customer services data and analytics consultancy, focusing predominately on customers in the contact centre space.

The deal follows Sabio's acquisitions of Rapport and DatapointEurope, after being backed by Lyceum Capital in 2016.

"They have customer service data analysis at the core of what they do," Russell Sheldon, chief commercial officer at Sabio, told CRN.

"They have a very deep expertise in understanding what drives the voice of the customer and customer service, and they do that through consulting capability and software-as-a-service data solutions."

Bright will run as a business unit of Sabio, with managing director Mats Rennstam staying on to head up the operation.

Rennstam said: "Joining Sabio is a smart move for Bright as it gives us the opportunity to not only combine with an innovative customer experience leader, but also to share our data insights with Sabio's broader global client base."

Bright will bring with it 45 customers - including BNP Paribas, Lloyds and South West Water - and 15 members of staff. The Bright branding will remain in place.

For the 12 months ending 30 September 2016 Sabio's turnover was £43.4m, but Sheldon did not reveal how the latest acquisition will affect its revenue.

Earlier in the year CEO Andy Roberts told CRN that Sabio was going through due diligence with two acquisition targets, but Sheldon remained coy on whether a second announcement is imminent.

"We've been very busy since the Lyceum investment, looking to broaden the portfolio that we have," he said. "This is the third acquisition and we have a strategy to continue to grow, both organically and inorganically.

"We will continue to add capabilities into the organisation."