SECOND DEAL FOR ORBIS

1st November 2006
SECOND DEAL FOR ORBIS

Newly formed Midlands corporate finance advisor Orbis Partners has recently put together its second deal in a month.

Orbis Partners, formerly Kroll Corporate Finance, engineered the management buy-out of Virtual Internet UK (VI), a London-based internet and managed services provider.

The Orbis team have between them taken a 12 per cent equity stake in the new company.

Since 1995 VI has been at the forefront of hosting innovation and services, offering unique managed services for clients wanting to outsource their server operation and internet connectivity. VI specialises in high availability websites and applications where hardware and network up time are critical.

VI offers a tailored hosting environment that enables a high quality service to its customers. It has state of the art Data Centres which provide customers with features such as 24/7 technical support, backups for power and advanced fire detection and suppression, as well as the highest possible security features.

The business was acquired from a Norwegian owner, Active24, a pan European web hosting provider.

Peter Rees, Managing Director, who has more than 25 years experience in the IT industry, headed the management buy-out team. He was supported in the deal by Orbis’ Steve Lamb, who has taken on the role of Chairman.

“We expect the business to benefit from more focus on the managed services offering to clients and the provision of higher end, quality products,” said Mr Rees.

Orbis Partner Chris Gregory said: “We were very keen to get on board and support VI in this exciting deal in the technology sector.

“Technology is an appealing and profitable sector and the market for managed services in Europe is expected to grow significantly.”

Toby Arrowsmith project managed the transaction for Orbis, Matt Hyland at George Green Solicitors advised management on the legal aspects and funding was provided by Dave Totney and Tracey Berry at Liquidity.

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