kateleigh - stock.adobe.com
Node4 welcomes fresh backers, and Radius buys again
Fresh from an acquisition, MSP Node4 has attracted fresh backers, and Radius has sealed its eighth acquisition in the past two years
Just a week after managed service provider (MSP) Node4 acquired Starcom Technologies, it has seen a change in its private equity backers.
Providence Equity Partners has become the channel player’s primary investor, giving the firm’s former backers Bowmark Capital and LDC a chance after five years to realise their investments.
The business has delivered decent organic growth in the past five years, and has been no stranger to using acquisition as a means of adding depth to its portfolio.
As well as Starcom, which is the MSP division of K3 Business Technology Group, the firm also made another couple of deals in the past three years, including picking up cloud provider Secura to underpin its ambition to provide more hosting services to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market back in 2019. Comments made after the announcement indicated that there will not be a change to that approach with Providence on board.
“We are excited to be working with Providence as Node4 continues to build momentum and swiftly moves on to the next stage of its ambitious growth journey,” said Andrew Gilbert, founder and CEO of Node4.
“We will continue down our well-proven path of organic growth, building on Node4’s best-in-class systems and supplementing this with exciting strategic acquisitions,” he added.
Andrew Tisdale, senior managing director at Providence, said that it was investing in a strong business with a good track record and a capable management team.
“Recent acquisitions and an ambitious growth plan add to Node4’s appeal as an investment opportunity,” he said.
There were also well wishes from Stephen Delaney, partner at Bowmark, who said that it could look back over the past five years with a sense of satisfaction.
“The exceptional quality of Node4’s people, infrastructure and technical expertise will ensure that the company continues its strong record of success with its new financial partner in what is a dynamic and rapidly growing market,” he said.
Meanwhile, Radius Payment Solutions Group, a provider of B2B transport and communications services has acquired Rainbow Communications, an independent telco provider.
This is the eighth deal struck by Radius in the past two years as the firm looks to expand its telecoms services capability, and follows on from the purchase of Connect Total Communications in October 2020.
Rainbow Communications serves customers with connectivity, hosted VOIP and mobile in both its native Northern Ireland and across the UK.
Eric Carson, co-founder of Rainbow Communications, said that the deal would give it more muscle: “The company’s ethos and expansionary vision aligns with our own and we believe this investment presents an exciting new opportunity, not only for our staff, but for the broader Northern Ireland economy.”
In response, Bill Holmes, CEO of Radius, said that the founders of Rainbow has built a strong business over the last two decades and had “a strong customer base that includes many of Northern Ireland’s Top 200 Companies”.
