Equiteq advised Kerv on its acquisition of cloudThing
Managed service and infrastructure transformation provider Kerv has purchased digital transformation firm cloudThing. The acquirer was advised on the deal by professionals from Equiteq.
Led by Executive Chair Alastair Mills and Managing Director Mike Ing, Kerv was formed in July 2020 in partnership with mid-market private equity house, LDC, to build a cloud-centric business model focused on the provision of IT managed services, DevOps, digital transformation and cybersecurity. The firm is leveraging an acquisition campaign to ramp up its growth in 2021, and has completed five acquisitions in under a year to that end.
The latest of these is the purchase of cloudThing. To date, it is the largest of Kerv’s buys in terms of value, revenue and headcount – and was funded using part of a recently announced £70 million credit facility. It sees the combined group become a £35 million revenue business, with more than 330 employees, serving over 800 customers, with offices in London, Birmingham, and Bangalore, India.
While continuing its focus on strong and sustainable organic growth, Kerv will also look at acquiring further businesses which add new capabilities to further enhance its cloud and digital credentials.
Commenting on the move, cloudThing CEO Stuart Harper said, “Kerv offers something genuinely unique, a group of complementary cloud and digital organisations that are experts at what they do, given further scale and enhanced capabilities as part of the group… Kerv’s commitment to organic growth, underpinned by a focus on customer experience and employee engagement is central to our own culture and our belief in the mission of the group as a whole. It became clear early on in our discussions that both organisations were aligned behind similar values.”
Founded in 2012, cloudThing helps businesses take advantage of the powerful technology available in the cloud. The company has a team of 220 staff including Developers, Solution Architects, Data Analysts and DevSecOps specialists, based in the UK and in Bangalore, India – and is also a Microsoft Gold Partner. cloudThing will continue to operate in its existing form as a division of Kerv, with the founders remaining with the business to assist with the next phase of growth.
Mike Ing, Managing Director at Kerv, remarked, “We are firmly focused on delivering sector-leading organic growth by embracing the character of each complementary business within the group, ensuring we continue to focus on what has made them a success whilst leveraging our respective strengths. The combination with cloudThing is a great example of our approach.”
The dealmaker
Kerv was advised on its acquisition of cloudThing by Equiteq. Specialising in the professional services industry, Equiteq is a global M&A advisory firm, and according to Alastair Mills, Executive Chairman at Kerv, “the team had a clear understanding of our desired outcomes from the start and provided excellent guidance at every step of the transaction.”
Speaking on Equiteq’s role in the deal, Nick Jones, the firm’s Head of Europe and Global Head of M&A, said, “The demand for high-quality digital transformation partners is more evident today than it has ever been and cloudThing are one such partner. Kerv, backed by private equity, will continue to seek value in this high growth segment with further investment and an exciting future for Kerv and cloudThing.”
