Milestone for Onyx after multi-million pound deal

ISIS Equity Partners (ISIS) has announced an investment worth £42m in technology provider the Onyx Group, in conjunction with the Onyx management team.

As a result of the agreement, ISIS owns the majority of Onyx Group.

As well funding the £27m purchase price, ISIS has committed a further £15m to fund strategic acquisitions.

The Government has been urged by The British Software Alliance (BSA) to invest more in the technology sector as a means of stimulating economic growth.

The Onyx Group has completed six acquisitions in recent years which has seen its customer base grow to more than 2,000 clients.

It has expanded its geographical reach across the UK and developed new services and products that are tailored to meet the needs of mid-sized businesses.

The group has 10 sites across the UK including London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Teesside and Sheffield.

It has five data centres and six workplace recovery facili- ties.

Turnover increased from £5.7m in 2007 to £14.9m last year.

Neil Stephenson, the chief executive of Onyx Group, said: “This is a milestone for Onyx which will greatly bolster our position as a leading provider of specialised IT provision within the data centre, business continuity and cloud space.”

A company spokesman said Onyx planned to invest further in Sheffield.

The spokesman added: “We have three members of staff in the Sheffield facilities and employ 118 overall.”

A number of Yorkshire-based advisers were involved in the deal.

Negotiations around senior debt were led by the HSBC team of Tom Green and James Scholes.

Advice was also provided by a Leeds-based team from law firm Addleshaw Goddard, which was led by Yunus Seedat.

A Leeds-based team from Grant Thornton, led by Ian Marwood and Bridie Robinson, were involved in talks relating to corporate finance. Financial due diligence was provided by Richard Aston and Phil Abram from KPMG.

The bank’s legal adviser was Richard Morton of Squire Sanders Hammonds.

Insurance due diligence was provided by Heulwen Samuel of Willis.

PricewaterhouseCoopers provided tax and commercial due diligence advice.

Leeds-based Xavier Woodward, who led the investment in Onyx on behalf of ISIS commented: “Technology is making off-site hosting of data easier and more cost effective.

“The Onyx management team has done a great job of building a diverse, high service level provider of data storage and business continuity services with its existing investors.

“We are looking forward to helping them accelerate their growth.”