Arrow Business Communications
Business communication & IT services
Contributing Sustainable Development Goals
Background
We began our investment partnership with Arrow in August 2016 to support the founder management team in an ambitious buy and build plan. They are a leading provider of unified communications and IT services to UK business customers.
Through the period of our investment partnership, Arrow proved its position as one of the UK’s most successful consolidation platforms in the ICT market, expanding its product portfolio to deliver a differentiated full service offering including next gen voice, mobility, data connectivity, IT services, ICT systems and energy.
After outperforming the investment plan, with revenue more than doubling and EBITDA trebling. We realised our investment in January 2020 through a sale to private equity to enable the next phase of buy and build.
Accelerating Growth
Commercial
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Sales/GTM - Investment in strategic marketing initiatives to enhance product propositions and enable more efficient sales processes
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M&A - We led several senior debt financing rounds to support the extensive buy and build activities
- Hands-on support for 8 acquisitions during our investment period, including deal assessment, negotiation, due diligence and funding
- Introduction of strategic acquisition targets of larger scale from the GCP network
People & Organisation
Leadership
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Succession Planning - Development of a “succession ready Board”, including recruitment of a new Managing Director, CMO and Commercial Director to enable the founder CEO to step back on our exit
Talent & Culture
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People Function - Support for Arrowvision culture initiatives, employee engagement and development of an enlarged senior leadership team to support expanded national presence and doubling of headcount
Platform for Success
Finance and Operations
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Finance Function - Enhancements to financial reporting and KPIs for decision making
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Operating Systems - Investment in data science function, power BI data warehouse and automation for client portals
Delivering the Best Outcome
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High-Quality Delivery - We provided all the funding for the initial transaction, including committed funding for acquisitions, structuring the deal as a true 50:50 partnership alongside existing and new management shareholders and ensuring deliverability
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Exit Preparation - Successful outcome after 3 years of investment to new investors, enabling the business to continue its growth journey
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Maximising Value Through Process - Completed 8 acquisitions, tripled earnings, and doubled headcount throughout the investment period