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Telecoms

Optilan acquired in NVM-backed MBO

Article Date:  Apr 04 2008 Nick Britton

NVM Private Equity has backed the management buy-out (MBO) of Coventry-based telecoms network provider Optilan. The firm has invested more than £5 million in the MBO, which is led by Optilan’s CEO and co-founder Richard Buckland.

Buckland and his fellow directors Chris Yarwood and Bal Kier now have a controlling stake in the firm, which was acquired for an undisclosed sum. Additional financing was provided by Allied Irish Bank and GE Commercial Finance (General Electric’s financial services arm).

Optilan designs, installs and maintains telecoms systems for the oil and gas, transport, power and utilities industries. It has 200 employees, the majority of whom are engineering and technical staff, and satellite offices in Moscow and Qatar.

Iain Lownes, partner at corporate finance house BTG McInnes, which structured the deal, comments: ‘All of Optilan’s key sales markets are experiencing high levels of investment that are largely resilient to slowdowns in the world economy.’

In related news, NVM has exited Technology for Business, a Hampshire-based provider of IT systems for law firms. The company was acquired by legal IT consultancy Tikit for £7.4 million in shares and a loan repayment of £1.6 million, giving NVM a return of three times its original investment, or an IRR of 15 per cent over a nine-year period.

With funds under management of £190 million, Newcastle-based NVM makes investments of between £2 million and £10 million in unquoted UK-based companies.

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