Cybersecurity partner Brookcourt set to be acquired for £30.3m

Security firm set to become part of acquisitive Shearwater Group

Redhill-based security partner Brookcourt Solutions is set to be acquired by publicly listed Shearwater Group for £30.3m.

Brookcourt was founded in 2005 and counts Skyhigh Networks and Juniper among its vendor partners.

In the year ending 31 March 2017 the firm saw revenue grow slightly to £22.8m, and was ranked at 142 in CRN's Top 250 UK VARs research.

Phil Higgins, CEO at Brookcourt, said: "We had a number of options to develop and grow our business, but were very much drawn to joining Shearwater owing to our shared vision and the real opportunity to be part of a rapidly growing PLC.

"This unity provides us with the resources, additional industry expertise and support to scale the business and deliver a broader solutions offering to our existing and prospective customers.

"We are delighted to be joining Shearwater at such a pivotal time in Brookcourt's development and we very much look forward to realising our ambitions for the business as part of the wider group."

Brookcourt's acquirer Shearwater is listed on London's AIM and has been on an M&A spree over recent months, acquiring two-factor authentication vendor SecurEnvoy and two other cybersecurity consultancies in Xcina and GeoLang.

The firm reported revenue of £6.2m for the year ending 31 March 2018.

Shearwater chairman David Williams said: "This transformational acquisition provides us with a substantial platform from which we can grow organically and by further acquisition.

"One of the key elements of our buy-and-build strategy is that the management teams stay with the business and become active parts of the enlarged group.

"As well as being strategically and operationally a major development for us, this transaction will also bring a step change in our scale and breadth of offering, and notably it will make us cashflow-positive following completion."