3. Adept
Acquirer: Wavenet
When: Announced in February
Deal size: £50.3m. Adept turned over £68.1m in its fiscal 2022.
How it started:
The weak macroeconomic outlook was “placing significant pressure on many smaller quoted companies”, the CEO of AIM-listed Adept admitted as it announced its intent to sell up to private equity-backed rival Wavenet in February.
The proposed deal – Wavenet’s fifth in a less than two-year spell under private equity backer Macquarie – would propel the Solihull-based Cisco, Microsoft and Mitel partner’s pro-forma annual revenues to over £200m.
“We acknowledge the additional commercial benefits which could be obtained as part of a larger, well-funded group, and believe the combination of Adept with Wavenet will enable the next phase of Adept’s growth to be strongly supported,” Adept Chairman Ian Fishwick added.
Wavenet’s £50.3m all-cash offer represented a 75% premium on Adept’s share price the preceding day.
What happened next:
Wavenet closed the deal in April, and continued on its M&A roll by picking up security VAR Axial Systems from administration (making it one of the most acquisitive MSPs of 2023).
There were 2 bigger trade acquisitions this year. See next page for more…
