SCG made at least 22 acquisitions during its spell as a management-owned business, according to Companies House filings.
Having performed an MBO from Livingbridge in 2021, the comms and IT provider on Friday announced it has returned to PE ownership as Providence Equity Partners stepped in to make a “significant investment”.
Known colloquially as one of the “six horsemen” driving consolidation of the UK cloud comms market, SCG has vowed to continue its “ongoing disciplined acquisition strategy” under Providence.
It marks one of the sector’s biggest deals since early 2024, when Focus Group achieved ‘unicorn’ status via its sale to Hg and Wavenet merged with Daisy Corporate Services.
M&A tot up
According to Osborne Clarke, which acted as legal advisor on the deal, SCG has made “more than 30 acquisitions” over the “past decade”.
But a quick check of Companies House filings and press releases suggests that characterisation may be selling SCG’s M&A team short.
Having made 16 add-on deals between 2016 and 2021 under Livingbridge (see here), Companies House filings indicate SCG subsequently made at least 22 conquests as a management-owned outfit.
It made seven acquisitions in its elongated fiscal 2023, five in its fiscal 2024 and nine in its fiscal 2025 (ending 31 March 2025).
The nonet of peers it gobbled in the most-recent of those periods comprised NT Group, Chalvington, Alliance Communications, BSAS, GHM Communications, Bang Systems, Faciam Solutions, Flip Solutions and Hanley Health.
SCG went on to make at least one more acquisition in its fiscal 2026 (according to its fiscal 2025 accounts).
The Basingstoke-based outfit still had £42.7m of unutilised acquisition facilities remaining at the end of the period.
Spotlight on SCG
Ranking 21st in Oxygen 250 2026 with revenues of £168.1m, SCG claims to offer mobile, broadband, cloud communications, IT services and cyber security to around 35,000 businesses.
A tier-two ISP as well as an MSP, it sells both directly and indirectly through a channel of over 450 partners.
SCG’s adjusted EBITDA stood at £46.2m in its most-recent period.
In the year before its sale to Hg valued it at around $1bn, Focus Group’s EBITDA hit £38.7m (a number that swelled to £51.4m in its fiscal 2025).
Having joined as CEO in 2024, Daryl Pile will continue in the SCG hotseat in the new Providence era, with the management team reinvesting alongside their new PE backer.
Characterising itself as a “middle-market private equity firm with deep sector expertise in media, communications and education”, Providence counts midmarket MSP Node4 among its other IT and comms investments.
“We believe SCG has established itself as a trusted IT and communications partner to thousands of UK SMEs through their customer service, deep sector expertise and mission-critical communications infrastructure,” Michaël Vervisch, Managing Director at Providence, said in a canned statement.
“As SMEs increasingly look for reliable experts with a comprehensive offering to manage their communications and technology needs, we expect demand for integrated connectivity, cloud communications and managed IT services to continue to grow. We look forward to supporting Daryl and the wider management team in the months and years ahead.”
