Wavenet Limited acquires Excell Group

Largest deal in Wavenet history boosts turnover to more than £100 million as acquisition of Excell Group completes.

Wavenet has signed the acquisition of Excell Group for an undisclosed consideration.

Wavenet, an award-winning, leading UK supplier of business telecommunication and technology solutions, backed by Macquarie Capital, is advancing its cloud and workspace offering by adding the experience and infrastructure of Excell Group into its solution and service portfolio. This acquisition will significantly bolster Wavenet Group’s market share in the cloud and workspace market and strengthen its place as one of the UK’s leading managed service providers to businesses for fully converged data, voice, cloud, and IT.

Excell Group has grown steadily since its inception through both organic and acquisitive means, expanding its network, portfolio and creating a hugely successful business centre service for landlords and serviced offices.

The Excell acquisition is the third addition to the Wavenet Group since Macquarie Capitals's majority ownership was announced six months ago.  With the acquisition of NTS Communications and Internal Systems Limited, Wavenet now provides services to over 10,000 businesses, and has an annual turnover climbing to more than £100 million.

The acquisition of Excell brings the benefits of increased scale, true London presence and the unique business centre infrastructure arm to the already comprehensive portfolio of services and solutions that Wavenet can provide to its customers.

Bill Dawson, CEO of Wavenet said: “Excell is the largest and most exciting acquisition we have made to date, bringing new services and a talented team into the Wavenet Group. This acquisition represents a huge step forward in our growth plans, giving us a stronger presence in the south of the UK and adding experience in growing service areas including flexible workplaces and cloud. Excell’s passionate focus on customer happiness closely reflects the values that everyone at Wavenet is dedicated to, the combined capability will meaningfully benefit our customers, partners, and employees. I am extremely proud of our teams and look forward to continuing our growth and success as we integrate Excell into the Wavenet Group.”

Darren Strowger, Chairman of Excell Group commented: “Following almost 30 years of growing our business into a dynamic and trusted organisation, we felt the time was right to take the next step and we couldn’t have found a better partner for that than Wavenet. Wavenet’s vision and values align completely with those that we already hold at Excell, which will not only enable a smooth integration, but will quickly enhance the service provided to our customers. The team at Wavenet have been supportive and flexible throughout the entire transaction and we’re excited to see what’s possible being part of the Wavenet Group.”

Adam Joseph, Head of Private Equity for Macquarie Capital Principal Finance Europe, said: “As digital connectivity and innovative technology services become ever more important, we’re proud to be able to support the expansion of Wavenet, leveraging our extensive financial and operational expertise. The Excell acquisition is the third in six months, and significantly grows the business. We’re excited to be a part of its growth journey and will continue to support the Wavenet management team to provide vital telecommunication and connectivity services to the UK’s SME and public service customers.”

Wavenet was advised by the Squire Patton Boggs Leeds office (led by Partner David Milne and Senior Associate Louisa Hine) and Travers Smith (led by Partner Spencer Summerfield and Senior Associate Hugh Hutchison).

Excell was advised by Oakley Advisory (led by Chris Godsmark, Ed Wirgman, Oliver Temple) and Osborne Clark (led by Partner Mike Freer).

About Wavenet

Formed in 2000, Wavenet has grown to become a respected, multi-award-winning provider of telecoms and technology solutions to thousands of businesses and enterprises across the UK. Wavenet is a managed service provider and has long-standing partnerships with some of the top technology providers on the planet. Wavenet is a Premier Certified Cisco Partner, Microsoft Partner and holds Platinum Partner status with Mitel, Five9 and Silver Peak.

Providing data, voice, security, and IT services to over 9,000 SME, enterprise, and public sector customers, Wavenet has offices in Solihull, Chester, Norwich, Cardiff, Nottingham, and St Albans and employs 250 people, including over 100 trained support staff and engineers. For more information, visit: www.wavenetuk.com.

In May 2021, Wavenet announced its sale to Macquarie Capital Principal Finance, the principal financing and investment arm of the global financial services company, Macquarie Group.

About Excell Group

Excell is an award-winning communications solutions provider, providing high quality, high-speed, cost-effective solutions for its customers. Excell was founded in 1992 as a family-run business and now the group consists of 13 individual entities. Excell’s products and services include, cloud and data, network, voice, security, business centre, audio visual, and support solutions.

Providing services to more than 7,000 businesses, Excell has offices in Cambridge, London, the Midlands and South East and employs 180 people. For more information visit: www.excellgroup.com.

About Macquarie Capital Principal Finance

Macquarie Capital is the advisory, capital markets and principal investment arm of Macquarie Group. Macquarie Capital Principal Finance, the principal investment business, provides flexible financing and secondary market investing solutions for corporate and commercial real estate clients across North America, Europe, and Australasia. Since 2008 Macquarie Capital’s Principal Finance team has provided financing and investment capital on a flexible and bespoke basis for over 800 companies, deploying over £29 billion globally. Recognising that every client is different, Macquarie Capital Principal Finance expertise goes beyond traditional financing to adapt solutions to meet individual client needs. Find out more about Macquarie Capital’s advisory and capital solutions capabilities here.