Manchester’s Metronet (UK) snaps up hosting firm in £47.5m deal

Metronet (UK), the Manchester-headquartered network services provider, has made a multi-million pound swoop for infrastructure and hosting company M247.

The £47.5m deal will create a national telecommunications platform offering a portfolio of connectivity and content services, such as wireless network services, data centres and managed hosting solutions across the UK and Europe.

The new business will operate across three data centres, employ more than 200 staff and boast an EBITDA above £12m.

Founded in 2000 by school friends Jonathan Buckle and Chris Byrd when they were 16, M247 started out as a web hosting services business.

David Buckle, Jonathan’s father, decided to co-invest in the company to purchase a web hosting firm called Open Hosting. Jonathan and Chris’ business was then incorporated into Open Hosting before eventually rebranding as M247 in 2003.

Today, M247 has sites in Manchester and Bucharest, Romania.

Metronet (UK)’s chief exec, Lee Perkins, said: “M247 is an excellent fit for us as it provides the scale and reach to build upon our existing momentum and the expertise and infrastructure to provide richer solutions to our combined customers.

“In addition to further acquisitions of similarly high quality businesses to M247, we are making significant investments in our systems and people to facilitate a smooth integration for our customers and to support further organic growth.”

M247’s managing director, David Buckle, commented: “We have come a long way in a relatively short space of time and this transaction is a proud day for our business.

“As two Manchester based firms, we have known the Metronet (UK) team for some time and feel they are a perfect fit for us and the ideal partner to join forces with.”

He continued: “We are extremely excited about what the future holds for our combined businesses and are really looking forward to working with Lee and his team.”

Metronet is backed by private equity company Livingbridge, which invested in the firm in 2014 as part of a £45m secondary buyout.

Livingbridge partner Matthew Caffrey hailed the acquisition as a “fantastic step forward” for Metronet (UK) as it expands its footprint across the UK and on into Europe.

He said: “This acquisition is the start of a journey to build an international, multi-offering internet service provider and hosting business and we are delighted that M247 will be part of that process. Metronet (UK) has an exciting time ahead as it actively looks for similar acquisition opportunities and we look forward to seeing the business build on its success to date.”

A team from professional services firm Deloitte composed of Jodi Birkett, Isaac Asamoah and Ian Pickup provided financial due diligence on the deal, while a Deloitte tax team comprising David O’Leary and Sophie Walker provided tax due diligence.