FourNet makes 'first of several' planned acquisitions

Acquisition will enable Avaya partner to protect the home workers of its customers, CEO says

Avaya partner FourNet has made the first of what it expects to be "several" acquisitions under new private equity Palatine.

Richard Pennington, CEO of the £38m-revenue collaboration and digital transformation specialist, said its purchase of C>Ways would enable it to protect the home workers in its base of public sector and utilities customers.

Headquartered in Scarborough, C>Ways has 24 staff and specialises in networking and cybersecurity, cloud and business continuity.

FourNet's first purchase since it swapped private equity backers last June will help it become "a leader in delivering top to bottom secure infrastructure", Pennington said.

"This is a key area of growth and will ensure the security of the vast number of users now working from home," he said.

"Organisations now require a fast, efficient, and easily managed underlying network, with the security controls in place to provide the assurance required to operate across multiple locations and hybrid working environments. The acquisition of C>Ways enhances our capabilities to provide that."

"We expect this to be the first of several strategic acquisitions," Pennington added.

C>Ways managing director Nick Jackson (pictured above, left, with Pennington), hailed FourNet's "commitment to doing business in a responsible way with strong environmental and social governance".

Andy Strickland, Senior Investment Director at Palatine said: "Alongside the strong organic growth we've seen since our investment last year, we are pleased to support Richard and the FourNet team with this strategic bolt-on acquisition.

"C>Ways will bring further scale and capability to FourNet at a time of significant market opportunity for the business as more customers migrate their IT systems to the cloud and ensure their networks are secure as hybrid working continues to prove popular."