This is the latest in a series of deals, including the £165m takeover of Alternative Networks and Daisy’s sale of a minority stake in Digital Wholesale Solutions to the private equity firm Inflexion.
Matthew Riley, chairman of Daisy Group (pictured), explained, “With so much investment across the UK to improve the fibre infrastructure, Daisy is now well-positioned to help unlock the enhanced speed, reliability and security that customers want in their offices and shops up and down the country. There is also a vast opportunity in the creation of jobs as we need more staff to help deliver that service.”
Christian Nellemann, founder and executive chairman of XLN, said, “We have been highly successful in our support of small businesses since our launch. We have continually innovated in both products and services which has enabled the company to continue to grow. Therefore, we felt the time was right to hand the reins over to Daisy, who have a great track record of investing and enhancing the businesses they acquire; the business and our customers are in safe hands.”
Neil Conaghan, CEO of XLN, added, “Christian and I have known Matthew Riley and members of the Daisy management team for many years. Hence, even though both of us are now leaving the business, we have 100 per cent confidence that the XLN business will continue to thrive and prosper under Daisy ownership and guidance.”
XLN was founded by Nellemann in 2002 and provides business broadband, phones and card payment services. Daisy said the addition of XLN extends its product portfolio to offer the widest choice of solutions to the business market.
Dave McGinn, CEO of Daisy Communications, said, “I’ve always admired XLN and its philosophy of championing small businesses; it’s a great organisation and shares the same passion for customer service as demonstrated by their Trustpilot score. Daisy’s strategy has always been to acquire successful businesses and we’re delighted with the recent acquisition of XLN. We’re excited to work closely with the XLN team, to capitalise on our shared portfolio and to bring the best propositions and pricing to all of our customers. Ultimately, we want to keep enabling customers, collaboratively, to win in their marketplace.”
Sky News reported the deal at £210m, with Nellemann and his father set to secure approximately £90m from the sale of the company.