FluidOne agrees long term refinancing agreement with Pemberton to fuel ambitious growth plans

London, UK – 11^th June 2024 – FluidOne, the market-leading provider of Connected Cloud Solutions, announced today that it has agreed a long-term refinancing package with Pemberton Asset Management (Pemberton) to fuel its ambitious plans to treble in size over the next five years.

Pemberton has provided facilities to support the full refinancing and is providing a committed acquisition facility. This will provide funding for future strategic add-on acquisitions and support FluidOne’s plans to acquire multiple businesses a year going forward.

Since investment from Livingbridge in 2019, supporting an MBO led by CEO Russell Horton, the business has quadrupled in size with revenue growing to £109m on the back of eight acquisitions whilst delivering world class customer service (NPS 89). The acquisition strategy has pivoted the business to be one of the UK’s leading IT and Cyber Security-led managed service providers with over 50% IT and cyber revenue mix and recurring revenues of over 70%. FluidOne combines IT and Cyber, with Connectivity and Communications to provide customers with Connected Cloud Solutions enabling their staff to work from anywhere, simply, and securely.

Commenting on the news Russell Horton, FluidOne CEO, said:

“It gives me great pleasure to announce our new partnership with Pemberton. To support our ambitious plans, we ran a process to seek a refinance package that would give flexibility and facilities to support us over the long term. During this competitive process Pemberton stood out as the ideal partner given how their expert team engaged to devise a tailored package to fit our requirements and due to their track record of supporting high growth, evolving businesses. We have our next acquisition in process that will be the first deployment of our new facility, and a pipeline of follow-on targets that fit our Connected Cloud Solutions strategy.”

Simon Hollingsworth, Partner at Livingbridge, said:

“The new debt facility provides the scale and flexibility we were seeking to support the next phase of growth for FluidOne in an exciting growth market. The strategy since investment with Russell and the team has been to build critical capability in the highest value, next generation product sets to make FluidOne the leading UK IT and Cyber managed service provider. We now believe we have the right value add capabilities to deliver this across both customer segments and market verticals making FluidOne a high quality and differentiated business. “

Richard Meehan, Managing Director, Origination at Pemberton, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with the FluidOne team and Livingbridge on this transaction. Russell and his team have built an exceptional platform across both product capability and customer service levels, translating into market leading customer satisfaction and retention rates.

Pemberton has considerable experience in the I.T. services market and view the business to be ideally positioned to benefit from continued strong demand for cloud and cyber security services. We also look forward to helping the Company execute on its ambitious acquisition strategy, with a number of near-term targets already well progressed.”

Based upon recent research commissioned by FluidOne, it is operating in a UK business customer market that spends £36bn a year on IT, Cyber and Communications, with a sweet spot for FluidOne services in the 100-2500 employee space that is forecast to grow 8.8% per annum over the next four years. FluidOne is providing critical services in areas of high demand, particularly driven by digital transformation continuing the move of IT and voice applications to the cloud, where customers need trusted advice, high quality technical support, modernised IT, cyber security, business intelligence, and advanced connectivity.

Advice on the debt refinancing was provided by Clearwater. 

About FluidOne

Established in 2006, FluidOne is an award-winning provider of Connected Cloud Solutions with a £109m turnover and one of the consistently highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS) in the industry, securing 89 for April 2024. FluidOne has a strong company culture enjoyed by 500 staff and was ranked in the UK top 50 large companies to work for in the Best Companies awards 2023.

FluidOne supports the needs of 2,500 customers, including 200 channel resellers, with IT and Cyber Security managed services underpinned by connectivity and communications solutions. FluidOne consults with its customers to design solutions that complement their in-house IT structures; taking complex hybrid multi-site environments, to make them simple and secure, so end-users can access their business applications wherever they are.

FluidOne’s clients include Barratt Homes, Krispy Kreme, Metro Bank and McLaren Construction and it has received full accreditation across a variety of Microsoft and Cyber Security standards, combined with a strong focus on quality including six ISOs.

Services include: Cyber Security (Microsoft Sentinel, MDR, Penetration Testing as a service), IT Managed Services (Azure transformation, Copilot, Modern Workplace, Lan, Wifi), Business Intelligence (Microsoft Fabric, PowerBi, Snowflake, Databricks), Connectivity (MPLS, ethernet, DSL, FTTP, SD-WAN, SASE, Mobile and IoT), Communications (Microsoft Teams voice, 8x8, Mitel, SIP).

Led by CEO Russell Horton, co-founder and CIO Chris Rogers, CFO Roy Hastings and CRO Simon Ward, the management team is backed by Livingbridge to support their ambitious long-term strategy.

www.fluidone.com | contact@fluidone.com

About Pemberton Asset Management 

Pemberton is a leading European private credit manager, backed by one of Europe’s largest insurers – Legal & General. We provide a range of financing solutions for borrowers and investment solutions for institutional investors.

Pemberton primarily invest in high-quality businesses often with market-leading positions across defensive industries in Europe. We support businesses backed by leading private equity sponsors and ambitious entrepreneurs. Our partnership approach provides long-term capital for buyouts, growth financing, add-on acquisitions and other general corporate purposes.

Pemberton’s highly diversified multi-strategy private credit platform supports our clients’ investment objectives with innovative solutions, a deep focus on sustainability and a commitment to transparency. Pemberton’s industry-leading expertise is shaping the future of private credit.

About Livingbridge

Livingbridge is a leading mid-market private equity firm which empowers businesses to unlock their true potential with £3.8bn assets under management. This is investment done the right way, built on ambition and experience. Nobody has seen it all, but some get closer than others and since it started in 1999, it has supported over 170 investments.

It takes a flexible approach to investing, focussing on adding the most value – this is why it focuses on four core sectors: technology, services, healthcare and education, and consumer. Livingbridge is an ambitious and international team with offices in London, Manchester, Australia, and the US. Its global footprint, local knowledge and network have supported the successful growth of our companies over the last 25 years, with many now household names.