Comms competitors merge to create £55m-revenue player

Connect Managed Services and G3 brought together by private equity backer

Connect Managed Services has merged with comms competitor G3, creating a £55m-turnover managed services provider.

The deal has been backed by Apiary Capital, which acquired a majority stake in G3 in March.

Connect boss Alex Tupman will lead the combined business as CEO, with G3's James Arnold-Roberts taking the group managing director role.

Tupman said: "Our objective is to create a highly scalable and focused business that can support the needs of a far greater and more diverse customer base, located in the UK and abroad.

"The merger of G3 and Connect brings together two businesses with highly complementary capabilities which will enable our combined clients to derive significant benefits from the newly acquired skills provided by the enlarged team, together with the ability to offer an extended portfolio of specialist and proven products and services."

Connect claims to have hit sales of £30m during the year ending 31 December 2018, while G3 says revenue was "in excess" of £20m in the period ending 30 April 2019.

Connect featured in CRN's Rising Stars report earlier this year as one of the channel's fastest-growing businesses.

Both firms started out as traditional Avaya partners, but claim to have become more agnostic over time and built up capabilities around Microsoft technologies.

Group MD Arnold-Roberts said: "We are really excited to be joining forces with Connect.

"The combination of the two businesses will bring even greater benefit to our existing customers while our emerging scale will allow us to reach new prospects both here in the UK and around the world.

"When we looked at Connect's capabilities alongside our own - including our dedicated global network infrastructure - it was clear that this was the perfect fit."

Private equity firm Apiary Capital invested in G3 in March, with the pair saying that the cash injection would be partly used to fund acquisitions.

Apiary Capital partner Nicki Boyd said: "We are delighted to be supporting the compelling merger of Connect and G3.

"Alex and James have a shared vision of building a platform of significant scale in the market they both serve so well.

"We believe this is just the start of an exciting and highly productive collaboration and it is fantastic to be working with experienced and like-minded people who are totally aligned with our goals and objectives."