Based in London, IP Solutions was established in 2001 by Keith Purves and Paul Richards. The business quickly established a solid customer base of SMEs and corporate clients ranging from 50-500 users. Customers come from sectors such as financial services, retail, recruitment, not for profit, healthcare and legal. Revenue in 2014 reached £6.4m.
Paul Richards of IPS commented “we have worked with Knight for several years and at the start of this year they presented us with a range of strategic options including a sale of the business. Private equity was not something that we had considered but once we understood more, we realised that this was aligned with our own personal objectives, enabling us to realise value and enable us to build the business to a level that would probably not be achievable without external investment. The process was very intensive and the team at Knight were incredibly supportive throughout.”
Paul Billingham (pictured) of Knight commented “this deal is another demonstration of the high regard that ICT businesses are held by institutional investors. Private equity is an option often ignored by business owners but it presents an interesting and rewarding alternative to trade sale”.
Laura Cockburn of Knight added “having come from a private equity background myself I knew that the team at IPS would receive lots of interest given the strong growth, high levels of recurring revenues and their position as one of the leading providers of the emerging unified communications solutions in the market. We look forward to working on more PE deals in the sector next year”.