Potential suitors for loss-making cloud and managed IT services group Daisy Group are expected to be sent confidential sales information from next week. The company is one of the finalists in the vendors section of the European IT and Software Excellence Awards
According to a report by Reuters [https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-daisy-m-a/cvc-among-private-equity-fir... private equity firms including CVC Capital Partners and Providence Equity Partners are considering bidding for the British firm.
Previous reports have valued any potential purchase at up to £1.5bn, but banking sources told Reuters that offers of between £1.1bn and £1.2bn were expected, although bids at these levels may well not be high enough for the owners.
A spokesman for Daisy founder and chairman Matthew Riley told Reuters that he wouldn't sell the firm within that lower price range. The current owners of Daisy are Riley, the hedge fund Toscafund and private equity firm Penta Capital.
Daisy was once a listed company but it went private again in 2015, and since then cash has been spent on acquisitions. At the back end of 2016, Daisy Group bought managed services and business-to-business communications supplier Alternative Networks. That followed previous acquisitions of Damovo UK and Phoenix IT in the managed services sector.
For the year ending March 2017, Daisy saw sales jump 18% to £603m, although pre-tax losses went up from £104m to £117m. So the eventual price tag of Daisy will be affected by what it has done for the year ending this Saturday 30 March.
UBS and Oakley Advisory were brought in to handle Daisy's sale last year, and they will be ones sending out the confidential sales information, including early indications of current financial performance.
