A “Full Fibre” UK Internet Service Provider ‘(ISP’) operating in Southern England. The Company was providing access to gigabit-capable broadband, capable of reaching speeds of up to 10Gbps, which was over 100x the national average. Having demonstrated its capability to provide Full Fibre connection to towns and cities across the UK, the Company was well-positioned to capitalise upon the explosion in UK demand for high-speed internet connection, during the COVID transition of employees working from home. The Company owned a comprehensive asset portfolio, including: over 56km of fibre optic cabling deployed across the Essex area; approval by the Electronic Communications Code to install and maintain fibre optic cabling; surveys and design mapping across Essex; rights in unregistered trade marks, including a distinctive brand name and logo; a content rich website; a proprietary software platform used for task automation to simplify the customer experience; and a GDPR-compliant customer database.
We were engaged by the Company’s Administrators R2 Advisory and Leonard Curtis to undertake an accelerated M&A marketing and sales process for the business and assets of the Company.
We ran an accelerated and focused sale process identifying and cataloguing the Company’s IP and produced comprehensive and visually appealing marketing collateral. The opportunity was broadcast on Metis Partners website and across social media channels, with additional marketing reach achieved through online industry platforms. Metis Partners populated and managed a virtual data room, profiled interested parties and managed all due diligence enquiries, tactically managing deadlines and setting minimum and final offer guidance, to ensure competitive tension was created and the best outcome achieved.
The sale attracted a significant amount of interest from UK and international parties, with several £million + offers being tabled. We negotiated with interested parties, creating bespoke “M&A drivers” guidance to appeal to certain bidders. A sale for the business and assets of the Company was completed with a UK-based ISP for almost £3m. This represented an excellent outcome for all key stakeholders with the successful sale ensuring staff retention and customer service provision was maintained throughout the process.
Assets Sold: Business Assets including Brand, Trademarks, Content-rich Websites and Domains, Key Organisational Knowledge, Software, Databases.
